


burgers and broken dreams

by regrettably



Category: JJCC (Band)
Genre: M/M, and all the rest of the usual cast, the bastard cousin of coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-09
Updated: 2017-02-22
Packaged: 2018-08-30 00:17:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8511436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regrettably/pseuds/regrettably
Summary: Eddy is a disgruntled McDonald's employee and Henry's an annoying customer that just won't leave him alone.





	1. do you want fries with your crushed sense of self-worth

**Author's Note:**

> I know I've said many times before that I'd never write an AU, but my good pal bitterkitty from aff, who writes the best AUs ever and continually encourages me to do terrible things, practically forced me to do this!
> 
> The idea for this AU is even hers! So if you've got complaints, complain to her! (but if you've got compliments give them to me pls)
> 
> Otherwise enjoy this very silly McDonald's AU (with all the usual characters and pairings)! I have no idea what I'm doing! :')

“Hello, welcome to McDonald’s!  May I take your order?”

 

The dude on the other side of the counter opens his mouth as if he’s going to say something, but no sound actually comes out.  Instead he just stands there and looks up hesitantly at the menu, pulling on his long bangs and fiddling around with the piercing in his left ear, and it’s at times like these when Edward Young Oh wonders where exactly he went wrong in his life.

 

He tried so hard to do everything right.  He really did.

 

He’s been training in martial arts since he could walk, he left home at fifteen to join an acting company, he somehow managed to graduate from high school on time and with perfectly acceptable grades, he completed his army service years ago, he’s taken countless acting lessons and singing lessons and dance lessons and rap lessons, at the very least he’s extremely overqualified to even just be a stuntman…

 

...and somehow, here he is, twenty-six years old and working full time at a McDonald’s in Seoul.

 

“Uh, sir?”  He tries again, the huge fake smile plastered on his face only faltering slightly, but the guy seems preoccupied with mouthing out the words behind Eddy’s head to himself.

 

He didn’t mean for things to turn out this way.  

 

It’s just that being a stuntman doesn’t pay very well.  And the hours are sporadic at best.  And it doesn’t seem to matter how qualified you are to be on TV, because you get to the audition and then the producers take one look at you and tell you that you aren’t what they’re looking for (“sorry, but maybe if you were a little taller…”).

 

It was only supposed to be part-time, just until he could find enough acting work to pay the bills.  He’d rather have worked pretty much anywhere else, but one of his classmates from acting school was already employed here (lot of fucking good acting school was) and said he’d put in a good word, and this is where Eddy ended up.

 

Because even if it’s McDonald’s, it’s better than having to move in with his parents.  There’s no way that’s happening.  Not after everything he’s worked for.  

 

But as it turned out, he couldn’t find enough acting work to even pay half of the rent for his tiny one-room apartment.  So then he started taking morning shifts… then evening shifts… then weekend shifts… then graveyard shifts…

 

Now it feels like he spends practically his whole life here.

 

It could be worse, he guesses.

 

Like, a lot of his coworkers are cute university students who love to chat with an older guy and ask him for advice and act super impressed when he flexes his arms and opens containers for them, so that’s kind of nice.

 

And even though he’s practically the only dude that works there that is stuck on cash register duty (Hadon works the deep-fryers, and it seems like he can do it while asleep), a lot of the female customers think he’s kinda hot for a dude who works at McDonald’s and they’re always shy and blushing and giggling and that doesn’t hurt his ego either.

 

Not that any of them want to actually go on a date with a out-of-work actor/McDonald’s employee.

 

And his ego is definitely hurt by tall dudes around his age with briefcases or expensive clothes or cool shoes that can’t be bothered to treat him like a human being just because he works in a fast food place.

 

At least the guy in front of him right now isn’t being a douche.

 

He is being annoyingly slow though.  

 

Eddy’s glad that this guy’s come in during a brief moment of relative quiet, so there isn’t anybody behind him in line to start getting upset about having to wait for longer than thirty fucking seconds to place an order, but still, what’s taking him so long?

 

Since things aren’t going anywhere quickly, Eddy gives the guy a once-over, trying to figure out what the deal is here.  He looks to be around Eddy’s age, maybe infuriatingly a couple of centimetres taller, his haircut says he thinks he’s cool, his clothes seem like they came out of a mainland Chinese music video, and if his shoes weren’t scuffed Eddy would be secretly jealous of them.

 

All in all, he’s just got the look of your average Chinese tourist, except your average Chinese tourist normally just holds up fingers for the number of a combo, or they can at least read the words in Hangul (or English, there are English names of things too) on the menu accurately enough for Eddy to understand what they want.

 

Apparently this guy can’t manage either of those things.

 

“Uh, your order?”  Eddy tries again, speaking painfully slowly, in case that might somehow help, and the guy scratches his head and blinks.

 

“I… uhm… can I… uh… j-juh...  jir… jil... _jilmoon_?  Uh, question?”  

 

Eddy wasn’t expecting English from the guy (weird English, his accent is really strange), but that’s fine, he can do that too (another resume item that hasn’t seemed to have helped him much).

 

“Yeah, shoot.”  Eddy says, in English, and the guy’s face lights up.

 

“Woah, you speak English?!”  Eddy nods slowly, trying hard not to roll his eyes because he literally just did, and the guy’s face cracks into this big goofy grin.  “That’s so cool!  You’re like, the first person I’ve met here who really can!”

 

“Great.”  Eddy is curt but polite as he hears one of the doors rattle open and notices a few people come in.  “So, your question?”

 

“Oh, uhm, okay!”  The guy smiles, bright and cheery, and it’s kind of nice to be smiled at by a male customer because that rarely happens with someone above the age of six for Eddy, and for a second Eddy feels slightly less annoyed.  “So, uh, how spicy is the McSpicy burger?”

 

“Uh… I don’t know… not that spicy, I guess…”

 

“Really?”  The dude scratches at his chin thoughtfully, “Because a lot of Korean people say stuff isn’t that spicy, and then it is, and I don’t really like spicy things…”

 

Then why would he ask about the one thing with “spicy” in its name on the entire menu?  Eddy doesn’t know, but he has a sneaking suspicion that things are only going to go downhill from here.  Especially when he hears an annoying bark of a laugh from somewhere behind himself, which means his manager is probably lurking nearby.

 

“Well, literally nothing else on the menu is spicy, so… you can choose anything else....”

 

“Yeah, but like… everything is always spicy here… I want to be safe... I’ve had some, uh, _bad_ experiences… so that’s why I came here!  I figured this would be the safest place!  But still, I don’t want to have what happened _last_ time I went out for food happen again...”

 

Eddy looks over the guy’s shoulder at the line slowly forming behind him.  One of their regulars, a ridiculously tall stick-thin guy that’s never seen wearing anything not black, is standing directly behind him and looking far from impressed.  

 

“It’s the same as anywhere else… just order what you normally get.”  The guy frowns at this, and Eddy wonders if he’s somehow got the one English-speaking person that’s never been to a McDonald’s before standing in front of him right now.  “Or have you never been here before…?”

 

“No, yeah, I’ve been to a Macca’s before…”  What the hell is a Macca’s?  “But like, normally I get like, a big Mac, because it’s kind of funny, hah… but uh, I’ve heard that Korean beef tastes different?”

 

“Then get something with chicken.”  His tone of voice is just a little sharper than it should be, and out of the corner of his eye he catches a glimpse of the enormous pearly smile of his manager as the tall man pokes his head out of the kitchen area.

 

“That’s why I asked about the McSpicy burger, mate!  Except it’s spicy…”

 

Mate?  Who does this guy think he is?  “Do you want one without the spicy sauce?”  

 

“You can do that?”  Eddy nods slowly, slipping slightly in self control and raising his eyebrows.  “Okay, I want that then!  Like, the combo, or whatever.”

 

“Good choice.”  The dude pulls out his wallet as Eddy punches in his order, and Eddy feels some of the tenseness in his shoulders dissipate as this encounter wraps up.

 

Sure, the guy’s a little irritating, but it could’ve gone a lot worse.  He could’ve been a weirdo.

 

Or maybe he is.

 

“Uh, man?  The price isn’t the same.”

 

“What?”  Eddy looks up from the cup he was scribbling on (the next guy in line always orders the same thing, an extra-large Americano with double-shots of espresso, Eddy can always feel his heartrate speed up just by thinking about it) and the dude is staring at the screen that his order’s displayed on with a frown.

 

“The price.  It’s not the same as the one on the menu…  and the name isn’t the same either...”

 

“Oh, uh… I just put it in as a chicken burger.  It’s the same thing, and it saves you, like, five hundred won…”  Who complains about saving money anyways?

 

“But I don’t want just a chicken burger… I want the McSpicy thing… but, like, not spicy.”

 

Eddy feels his left eye twitch.  

 

“Look, it’s the same thing-”

 

The guy does this annoying thing with his head that flicks his bangs out of his eyes as he squints up at the menu.  “It doesn’t _look_ like the same thing.”  

 

The dude in all-black is tapping his foot impatiently and wringing his hands together and giving off the impression that if he doesn’t get his caffeine with added caffeine with extra caffeine on top soon his hands won’t be the only thing he’ll be wringing.

 

“Trust me, I’ve worked here for a while, and it’s totally the same thing.”  Eddy’s forehead is starting to feel damp with perspiration as he looks at the ever-growing line of people forming behind this weird-voiced asshole.

 

“Yeah, but it doesn’t look the same.”  The guy pulls on his earring again and Eddy represses the urge to lean over the cash register and rip it from his earlobe.  “Are you lying to me, mate?”

 

“Why-”  Eddy realizes that his voice has become a good number of decibels louder and to his right he hears the sound of large clompy feet coming in his direction and he takes a deep breath,  “- _why_ would I do that?”

 

The dude shrugs and grins.  

 

“Dunno, man, you look kind of like a joker, y’know?”  Eddy’s eye twitches again.  “So, like, can I get a McSpicy thingy?”

 

“Yes, you can-”  Eddy’s tone of voice isn’t exactly friendly now, “-and it’s going to be exactly the same as a chicken burger.”

 

“But it doesn’t _look_ the same-”

 

A huge hand plucks the coffee cup out of Eddy’s grasp and Eddy smiles the biggest fucking smile he’s ever smiled while grinding his teeth together.

 

“Listen, you can either pay for this chicken burger, get a chicken burger, eat that chicken burger, and enjoy that chicken burger,”  Eddy hisses through clenched teeth, “Or I can climb over this fucking counter and shove a chicken burger and a McSpicy burger down your throat at the same time and you can tell me if they taste different, okay?”

 

The guy shrinks back for a second, and then he grins from ear to ear and Eddy swears a blood vessel in his left eye bursts.  

 

“Sure, I’ll pay.”  He takes out a credit card as Eddy’s manager leans over his shoulder and holds out a heart-stopping coffee to the guy in black, who throws down exact change on the counter and glares daggers at the weird accented chicken burger douche before heading to sit in his usual spot (a high stool that gives a good view into the kitchen) and taking out a huge notebook from his fashionable man-purse thing.

 

“Fan-frickin’-tastic.”  

 

And this should be it.  This should be the end.

 

But then the guy leans forward, squinting as he mouths out the Hangul on Eddy’s name tag.

 

“Thanks for your help… uh… Ayyy… deee… Ah-de?  Oh, uh, Eddy!  Thanks, Eddy!”  The guy grins as he recognizes the English name.  “I’m Henry, by the way.”

 

“I don’t give a shit what your name is-”  Eddy’s manager doesn’t understand a word of English, but Eddy still sweats a little harder when one of those huge mitts of hands clamps on his shoulders.  “-nice to meet you, Henry!  Enjoy your meal!”

 

The guy, Henry (apparently), lingers for a second longer with an uncertain smile, and then Eddy’s calling to the next people in line and he’s gone to the side to wait for his damn chicken burger.

 

“Another happy customer?”  His manager asks with painfully loud cheer, nudging Eddy in the ribs with a bony elbow and gesturing at Henry with his head.

 

Eddy swallows a sigh as he punches in the next set of orders.  “Sure, Youngjin.  Why not?”

 

“Exactly!  Why not?!  Why wouldn’t you be happy here?”  Youngjin barks and slaps Eddy in the back.  “And it’s _Manager_ Youngjin.”

 

As far as Eddy can tell from his depressing amount of time here, the only qualification Youngjin, a lanky beanpole years younger than Eddy with a mental capacity similar to a toddler, has to be manager is a bizarre and overwhelming love of working at McDonald’s.

 

“Yeah, whatever, _Manager_ Youngjin.”  He grumbles under his breath, and Youngjin just laughs and passes out drinks to the next people in line.  

 

It’s still just the first hour of Eddy’s shift.  It’s only the second day of his work week.  When he gets off work he’s going to stop at the gym for an hour so he can work on a body that nobody gets to touch, then he’ll go home to his tiny one room apartment all alone, stare into his near empty fridge, sit on his bed with his laptop and look for any and all possible acting work, find nothing, eat the same cheap ramyun he’s been eating every day all by himself (when he isn’t using his employee discounts) and watch dramas while wishing he was in them.

 

Then he’ll do that tomorrow.  And the next day.  And every day after that for the foreseeable future.

 

The only thing Eddy has to be happy about right now is that he’ll probably never have to see that infuriating Chinese tourist (who of course waves happily at him when it’s his turn to collect his order) again.  



	2. repeat customers are not stalkers

Or, you know, maybe Eddy has to see him again the very next day.  Because why would anything in Eddy’s life turn out the way he wants it to?

 

It’s just another morning shift, like every other morning shift Eddy’s ever worked.  

 

Youngjin’s tucking in his shirt and smoothing out his pants as he wrings his hands together in excitement, the few part-time university girls with them are trying hard not to giggle as they watch Youngjin using the reflection from the grill hood to struggle with his unruly hair, and Eddy’s leaning against a prep counter and trying not to constantly check the time on his phone, failing, and checking every ten seconds as if somehow each time he checks it will be nine and a half hours from now and he can leave.

 

What does get Eddy to stop checking his phone (for all of two seconds) is Youngjin’s voice booming with glee at the sound of the employee’s entrance door in the kitchen opening.

 

“Hadon!”  Youngjin shouts happily, as if Eddy’s old classmate, a near-emotionless guy that runs the deepfryers, doesn’t always show up at the last possible second before a shift.  “I’m so glad you’re here!  Now we can start!”

 

And Youngjin goes to grab Hadon by the shoulders and pull him to his side to deliver his usual pep-talk like he does every morning shift they work together.  And like every other morning shift, Hadon immediately shakes his head.

 

“Youngjin, don’t touch me-”  Hadon starts, not even getting a chance to shrug his coat off before Youngjin’s flung a massive hand around his shoulder like they’re best friends or something.

 

“Alright, now that we’re all here, we can start another awesome day at the best place in all of Seoul!”  Youngjin’s voice is so loud that it actually ruffles the hair on the side of Hadon’s head, “Today’s going to be a great day, because I get to work with such great friends!”

 

“Youngjin, I hate you.  I’ve always hated you.  I’ve hated you since the first day I worked here.”  Hadon says with a completely straight face, but Youngjin just shakes his head and whomps Hadon on the back with a huge palm.  

 

“That’s not true!  You love working with me, just like I love working with Hyojung and Mihyun and Jiho and Seunghee,”  Youngjin nods and winks at each of the girls in turn and they all shake their heads and blush, “and Eddy and especially you, Hadon!  And you know why?  Because this is the best job in the entire world!”

 

“I used to enjoy being alive sometimes before I started working here.”  Hadon yawns as Youngjin smiles even wider.

 

“And now you can enjoy being alive even more!  Because working here makes you happy!”

 

“Youngjin, the only thing that makes me happy anymore is daydreaming about cramming your enormous mouth full of fries until you choke and die.”

 

“Also not true!”  Youngjin is almost eerily undeterred at this vivid imagining of his death by fast food, instead starting to fuss over Hadon’s sleepy appearance, trying to straighten his crooked visor and doing up the top couple of buttons on his shirt, “Making good food makes you happy!  And that’s what we do here, we make good food!”

 

“Youngjin, we make cheap burgers and fries…”  Eddy adds with no small degree of boredom, looking at the time on his phone again and frowning.  He’s heard this all a million times before,  but today’s off to a bad start because Hadon and Youngjin’s usual back and forth has only taken up two minutes of his shift so far.

 

“But cheap burgers and fries make people happy!  So we make people happy!”  Youngjin beams as he gets Hadon looking as presentable as he’s going to get.  “And making people happy makes us happy!  So this is really the happiest job you can find!”

 

“Sometimes I fantasize about drowning myself in the deepfryer.”  Hadon mumbles as he undoes the top button of his collar so he can breathe again and a couple of the girls cover their mouths to hide their smiles.

 

“Then you’d just be delicious!  But you wouldn’t do that anyways because I know deep down that you’re secretly super happy to work here and-”

 

“Youngjin, as much as I like listening to all the ways Hadon wants to die today, I’m gonna go take some orders, ‘kay?”  Eddy nods towards the cash register where a lone person is waiting and this just makes Youngjin look even happier.

 

“Alright everybody, customers!  Let’s have a great shift!  And don’t forget to smile!”  Youngjin grins as he pokes Hadon in the cheeks and if Youngjin was just a little bit slower Hadon would’ve bitten off the tip of his index finger.  “And it’s _Manager_ Youngjin!”

 

Eddy rolls his eyes as he turns his back on Youngjin gazing down with pride at the “Manager” nametag on his chest and trudges out from the back to greet the first customer of this very early morning.

 

“Good morning, welcome to McDonald’s what can I get for… _you_.”

 

“Good morning, Eddy!”  Greets an irritatingly familiar voice accompanied by a smile that’s much too cheery for someone who isn’t Youngjin this early in the morning.  “Wow, you work morning shifts too?  This is great, you’ll get to see me all the time!”

 

“What do you mean, all the time?”  Eddy glares at Henry, yesterday’s most annoying customer.  “You’re not a tourist?”

 

“A tourist?”  Henry laughs (even his laugh is fucking weird) and shakes his head,  “Nah, man, I work down the street.”  

 

“Down… the… street?”  Eddy’s voice shoots up in pitch as he realizes exactly what this means for him.

 

“Yeah!  I just started last week!  At the dance studio that’s like, two blocks down…?”

 

“Good for you.”  Eddy doesn’t really try to bite back any of his hostility (maybe he’s a little bit jealous, why does this idiot get to work at a dance studio when he’s stuck here?) because it’s also much too early to be nice to someone with a bucket hat on. “So, your order?”  

 

Henry looks up thoughtfully at the menu, taking off his ugly hat and rearranging his bangs.

 

“Are all your breakfast foods spicy too?  Because that burger you gave me yesterday was spicy, mate.”

 

“It was not.”  

 

“It so was.”

 

“Maybe there’s something wrong with your taste buds.  Maybe you should go to the hospital, like, right now and find out what it is.”  Maybe he’s dying.  That’s a pleasant thought.

 

“Nah, there’s nothing wrong with me!”  Henry laughs, completely unfazed by Eddy’s cold tone.  “Not that I could do anything about it if there was… do you know how crazy expensive it is to go to the hospital here?”

 

Of course Eddy knows.  He works at McDonald’s.  His healthcare benefits are pretty much limited to Youngjin offering to give him stitches in the storage closet in the back all by himself if he somehow gets cut (Eddy does not want Youngjin to give him stitches).

 

“Yeah, well, if you don’t hurry up and make an order you’re going to end up with biggest hospital bill you’ve ever seen, got it?”

 

“Are you allowed to threaten customers?”  Henry smiles, unfortunately looking as far from threatened as Eddy could hope for.

 

“Only the annoying ones that speak English.”  Eddy nearly growls, but Henry just takes it as a joke, laughing hard enough that his bangs fall into his eyes and he has to do another one of those weird head flicks so he can see again.  “So, order?”

 

“Okay, okay…  I’ll get one of those big breakfast things… but if it’s spicy I’m going to bring it back.”

 

“It’s not gonna be.”  Eddy punches in the order with enough force that he’s sure he’s going to get a loud lecture from Youngjin about not abusing the cash registers again.

 

“Sure, but if it is, I will.”  Henry adds with a wink that is completely unnecessary as he hands Eddy a somewhat crumpled wad of bills.

 

“It won’t be,”  Eddy frowns as he tries to unfold the bills, wondering why this idiot couldn’t count out the money himself, “So you won’t bring it back, if you know what’s good for you.”

 

“Yeah, but if it is-”

 

“ _Next!_ ”  Eddy interrupts, shoving Henry’s change into his hands and shouting so loud he causes the two people in line behind Henry, an anxious looking guy with an extremely sharp face and a dude that looks like an Anpanman reincarnation (only if Anpanman had a bunch of really sick tattoos though) that he’s only ever seen come in together, to jump.

 

“I’ll see you tomorrow!”  Henry calls back over his shoulder with a grin as he stands to the side to wait for his food, and Eddy distinctly hopes that he won’t.

 

And the next day looks relatively positive for Eddy.

 

It’s the last break of his shift, and Henry hasn’t shown up in the previous seven and a half hours, so unless Eddy’s really unlucky he might make it through this one day blissfully Henry-free.

 

“I think you should try, at least.”  Hadon murmurs, tilting his phone screen so Eddy can read better and blowing an impressive ring of smoke through his lips.

 

They’re on break together, sitting behind the back of the building at the employee entrance.  Eddy’s drinking a gross tasting protein shake that he obviously didn’t pay attention to how much powder he added to when he was getting ready for work, Hadon’s smoking even though he knows it upsets Youngjin (actually, especially because he knows it upsets Youngjin) and the pair of them are looking through casting calls on Hadon’s phone.

 

“The audition’s tonight though… and like, I’d have to go straight after work… do you think they’re looking for someone that smells like onions and fries?”  Eddy sighs, and Hadon snorts, smoke curling out of his nostrils.  “Besides, don’t you want to try out too?”

 

Hadon shakes his head while taking a big drag.  

 

“Nah.  We both know that neither of us will get the part,”  Eddy would be angry, but he knows Hadon’s right, “But if one of us did, it would be you.  They’re looking for someone with way more experience with action scenes than I have…”

 

“That’s true, I guess…”  Eddy reads through the call, and he does seem particularly qualified for the role.

 

“You may as well give it a shot.  What have you got to lose beyond your confidence, self-respect, and general will to live?”  Hadon shrugs, lips tugging upwards slightly as he ducks out of the way when Eddy takes a half-hearted swing at him.

 

“Listen, I-”  Eddy starts, but then the employee’s entrance door creaks open and Youngjin pokes his big head outside.

 

“Hey, Eddy!  There’s someone-”  Youngjin booms with his usual level of excitement, but then he sees Hadon and frowns.  “Hadon… are you smoking again?  When are you going to stop?  It’s bad for you!”  

 

Hadon rolls his eyes as he pointedly flicks some ashes on the ground.  “Youngjin, smoking is one of the few pleasures I have left in life.  Do you want me to be even more miserable than I already am?”

 

“ _Manager_ Youngjin!  And you’re not miserable!  How can you say that when you work here, at the best job-”

 

“There’s someone…?”  Eddy prompts, hoping to cut off Youngjin before he goes into another one of his huge spiels about how goddamned much he loves McDonald’s.

 

Youngjin blinks in confusion for a moment before his face splits into a huge grin as he remembers why he came out here in the first place.

 

“Yeah, there’s someone asking for you!  Go see them!”  Youngjin smiles as he hauls Eddy to his feet.

 

Even though Eddy hardly ever lets himself get his hopes up anymore, he can’t help but be kind of excited.  Because this is exciting.  Nobody ever asks for him, and he’s (unfortunately) got this place listed on his resume, maybe it’s someone from a studio, maybe it’s someone offering him another job, maybe-

 

“Well, at least I think they’re asking for you.”  Youngjin’s deep voice snaps Eddy out of the first wave of hopefulness he’s felt in a long time.

 

“Wait, what do you mean _think_?”  Eddy tries to dig his feet into the ground but Youngjin’s pushing hard at his back as he forcibly guides him inside.

 

“Just go see!”  Youngjin guffaws as he pushes Eddy and his fading smile out of the kitchen so he can look at the now-familiar figure of his least favourite customer .

 

“You again.”  Eddy groans while Henry’s face lights up at his appearance.  “Why you?  What do you want?”

 

“Hey, Eddy!”  Henry smiles, spreading his hands out on the counter and leaning on them.  “That’s easy, I want to order from you!”

 

Eddy can’t believe this.

 

“You pulled me off my break so you could _order_ from me?”   

 

“Yep!”  Henry beams, completely oblivious to the murderous look Eddy’s giving him.

 

“Why couldn’t you just order from literally anybody else who works here?  Like Seunghee, right there, on the next cash register, who is supposed to be working right now and not supposed to be on break like I am?”

 

“Well, I can’t speak Korean-”

 

“You could just point at the frickin’ menu, you know.”

 

“-and I don’t want to order from anybody else.”  Henry says firmly,  “I want to order from you.”

 

“Why?!”  Eddy wishes more than anything that right now he was back outside inhaling Hadon’s second-hand smoke fumes.

 

“Because I like you.”  Henry shrugs, and Eddy stands there, dumbfounded.

 

“Okay… well, I think it’s pretty obvious that I don’t like you, so…”

 

“Oh, you like me!”  Henry fiddles around with his piercing again and Eddy considers beating him to death with one of the trays in the stack on the counter beside him.  “You just don’t know it yet.”

 

Eddy doesn’t really have time to think about how ominous that sounds because he can just feel Youngjin’s curious eyes on him from the kitchen area.

 

“Look, can you just… order something?  Please?”  Eddy pulls off his visor so he can run frustrated fingers through his hair instead of wrapping his fingers around Henry’s neck.  “And if you ask me if something’s spicy again, I’m actually allowed to strangle you.”

 

Surprisingly enough, after laughing off Eddy’s attempt at intimidation, Henry does make an order (a standard quarter pounder meal, how adventurous) without further incident, although he still doesn’t count out his bills for Eddy (what happened to his credit card from the first day?).

 

When Eddy hands Henry back his change (more like slams it into his palms) Henry looks surprisingly serious for the first time Eddy can think of.

 

“Hey, uh… thanks.”  He says gently, hands closing slowly around the fistful of bills.

 

The soft tone of voice startles Eddy enough that he almost asks what he’s thankful for, but he doesn’t want to give Henry the satisfaction, so he just stands there and stares at the guy until they both start to look awkward.

 

“So, I’ll see you tomorrow then?”  Henry asks with a big hopeful smile, voice back at it’s usual annoying pitch, and Eddy cringes at the thought.

 

“I really hope not.”  Eddy grumbles, but Henry just laughs and waves him goodbye as Eddy trudges back into the kitchen, determined to finish the rest of his break.

 

But Youngjin catches him by the shoulder as he passes by the deepfryers, where Hadon’s shifting masses of fries around without actually looking at what he’s doing.

 

“So?”  Youngjin asks excitedly,  “Who was that?”

 

“Eddy’s got himself a weirdo.”  Hadon actually sounds vaguely amused as he dumps another basket of fries into the oil below while turning to look at Youngjin and Eddy.

 

“A weirdo?”  Youngjin’s furrows his eyebrows together in thought.

 

“Yeah, it looks like it.”  Eddy agrees, wondering if he can maybe sneak a smoke off of Hadon.  He doesn’t smoke, but he feels slightly on the frazzled side today.

 

“Oh, you mean like the guy that always wears black that comes in like four times a day and orders the strongest coffees ever and then sits there on those stools that let you see into the kitchen really well and drinks them really slowly while watching Hadon work and scribbling in his notebook?”  Youngjin questions without pausing for air once.

 

“Yeah, like that guy.”  Eddy nods slowly, “Except less creepy.  But way more annoying.”

 

“But I like that guy!”  Youngjin bravely thumps Hadon on the shoulder even though Hadon’s holding a basket full of dripping fries,  “He seems cool!  Although, does he ever actually eat?  Has he ever ordered any food from you?”  Eddy shakes his head,  “And Hadon, has he even talked to you yet?”

 

Hadon also shakes his head, dumping salt over cooked fries and filling up three new baskets all while looking at Youngjin.

 

“Huh.”  Youngjin looks strangely disappointed at this, but Eddy’s not going to bother asking why.  Asking Youngjin why he does anything is a sure way to get one hell of a headache.  “But you’ve got somebody like that, Eddy?  That’s awesome!”

 

“How is that awesome?  He’s kind of like… a lowkey stalker.  A really stupid lowkey stalker.”  Eddy rolls his eyes, digging his phone out of his pocket so he can look at the location of the casting call again and figure out if he can actually make it there in time.

 

“It’s awesome because he’s a repeat customer!  That means we made someone so happy that they keep coming back!”  Youngjin looks elated at the news that somebody has come into his McDonald’s more than once.  “And repeat customers are not stalkers!”

 

“Whatever you say, Youngjin.”  Eddy mutters as he runs his thumb over his phone screen, trying to burn the audition requirements into his mind.

 

“ _Manager_  Youngjin.  And don’t you have like, an hour left in your shift?  Go take orders and make people happy!”  Just like that Eddy’s shoved unceremoniously out of the kitchen for the second time today by _Manager_ Youngjin, and he sighs before gathering his courage, straightening out his shirt collar, and smiling his best acting school smile at the next group of people waiting to place orders (intimidatingly tall guys in sharp suits that make Eddy feel absolutely worthless with just one unimpressed glance in his direction).

 

Eddy spends the rest of his shift trying to mentally prepare himself for the audition he’s going to literally have to run to as soon as he’s done work, but, even though Eddy doesn’t understand why and finds it beyond infuriating, his thoughts keep drifting to one annoying customer with a weird voice and stupid hats that for some unknown reason seems determined to make Eddy like him.

 

 


	3. wallowing in self-pity is always better when you have warm fries

 

“So… how’d it go last night?”  

 

Eddy’s got a rare moment with no customers to serve, so he’s unpacking burger cartons in the kitchen while Hadon scrapes accumulated oil and salt out of the fry warmer.

 

“Well, uh…”  Eddy begins, wondering what the best way to recount his audition experience without sounding completely pathetic would be, “...you know that look that they give you when you’re talking, that look that just says you’re not going to get the part, no matter what you do?”

 

Hadon nods with first-hand knowledge, and Eddy sighs.

 

“Yeah, they gave me that look before I even started talking.”

 

In all honesty, it was awful.

 

He had walked in with as much confidence as he can possibly muster anymore, but he hadn’t even had time to run home and change out of his uniform, much less shower, so he smelled and looked greasy and he kept his coat on to hide the stupid McDonald’s logo on his shirt but that just made him way too warm and sweaty, and by the time he was actually called in he’s pretty sure he looked like a damp, nervous, unsuccessful wreck.

 

At least that’s what the look the audition panel gave him seemed to say.  Not that he had to see their faces for long.  He only got to speak for about thirty seconds before someone with a particularly disapproving expression told him they’d heard enough, thanked him for his time, and ushered him out of the room.

 

“Oh.  Ouch.”

 

Afterwards, in an episode of extreme self-loathing that he’s far from proud of, the second he got home he kicked off his shoes, shrugged out of his gross uniform, and hid under the covers of his bed. He just laid there, blankets pulled over his head and knees tucked up to his chest, until it was time for him to start today’s shift.  And he’s working the evening shift right now, so he laid there for a  _ long  _ time.  

 

He even considered not getting up for work, just laying there and feeling sorry for himself for as long as possible until someone either came looking from him or until he died of starvation or dehydration or something.  But he wasn’t entirely sure anyone would come looking for him at all (or worse, the only person that would come would be Youngjin) and after a couple hours of his stomach rumbling starvation just seemed like it would take too long.

 

So he got up, saw that he had no food in his apartment beyond the same goddamn ramyeon he’s been eating every day anyways, and figured he could wallow in self-pity at work, where at least he has warm fries.

 

“Yeah, ouch.”  Eddy repeats, a little bit quieter and sadder than he meant to, and Hadon stops dropping old fries into the garbage for a second and turns to look at Eddy.

 

“Hey, there’s always next time…”  Hadon’s lifeless expression softens slightly, and it looks so out-of-character that Eddy nearly laughs, despite his dejection.

 

“That?  Coming from you?  Are you joking?”  

 

“Yeah, no, you’re right.”  Hadon shakes his head, flicking a fry at Eddy.  “We’re both fuckin’ doomed.  We’re going to spend the rest of our lives here.”

 

“Yup.  The rest of our lives.”  Eddy echoes, not even bothering to retaliate as the fry hits him in the square in the chest, instead half-heartedly tearing open another new package of cartons, shoulders slumping.

 

Hadon must be disappointed in his general lack of reaction, because he wipes his hands on his apron briefly before laying a still-oily palm on Eddy’s shoulder. 

 

“Look, uh… tomorrow’s Friday, right?”  Eddy nods, despite how lame he feels being comforted by Hadon, of all people.  “And I’m guessing you’re not doing anything tomorrow night?”

 

“No, actually, I’ve got a sick gig on  _ Star King _ , like I do every week.  Couldn’t disappoint the fans and not show.”  

 

Hadon sort of smiles (he does the closest thing he gets to a smile anyways) at Eddy’s sarcastic response.  “Well, when you’re done enthralling the masses with your talent, you’re welcome to come to my place and uh… drink, or whatever.”

 

Eddy actually spends most of his nights that he’s not looking for auditions at Hadon’s place, drinking the cheapest soju they can buy and watching movies, drunkenly critiquing the acting until Eddy passes out on Hadon’s couch (Eddy doesn’t actually own a couch and he’s not sure how Hadon afforded one).  Normally this is an unspoken invitation though, Eddy just shows up with booze sometime after work and Hadon doesn’t have the heart to turn him away.

 

Sometimes Youngjin joins them too, although Eddy can’t remember Hadon ever inviting him along and he’s certain that Hadon never told Youngjin where he lives.  He may just show up at Hadon’s door at random and uninvited, but when he does show up he always brings food, and it’s surprisingly good food that isn’t from McDonald’s (fried chicken, samgyupsal, galbi) because he gets paid more than they do.  Hadon never turns down free meat, so against his better judgement he invites Youngjin in too.

 

It’s pretty sad, spending his weekends sleeping on a couch in an apartment just as small as his own but that also smells like smoke and dog (Hadon’s only other joy in life is his gigantic hairy smelly pet), and more than once he’s woken up with Youngjin spooned up next to him on the couch (it would be great if that could stop happening), but deep down Eddy would much rather be there than at his own place by himself.

 

He hates living alone.  He has this odd feeling that in some other life he lived with a whole bunch of people and pets and plants and it was crowded and cramped and loud all the time, but at least he was never ever lonely. 

 

“Yeah, uh… maybe…”  Eddy runs fingers through his hair, cringing at how greasy it feels, trying to act noncommittal even though they both know he has no plans, “...we’ll see.”

 

Hadon pats him on the shoulder and straightens up, turning back to his fries.  “Bring cards or something this time, alright?  I’m feeling adventurous, I think I want to drink myself into a stupor while playing games this time…”

 

“Did I say I was coming?”  Eddy mutters, but they also both know he will be.

 

The rest of the day just  _ drags _ on.

 

Maybe it’s all in Eddy’s head, but Youngjin seems extra cheerful, the customers seem extra irritable, and he feels extra small and gross and tired.

 

And it’s a slow day for customers too, so he’s left with more time than usual to reflect on his life and his mistakes.

 

Like right now, while he’s mopping the floor behind the cash registers.  He’s going over his last couple of auditions in his head, wondering what exactly he could’ve done better, remembering what he said and what he wore and how he sounded and how he looked…

 

Or at least, he’s trying to.  Except Youngjin’s bustling around him, refilling napkin holders, checking the levels of syrup left in the soda dispensers, polishing machines, and he’s got this big dumb smile hovering on his lips as he hums Girls’ Generation songs to himself, and it’s totally ruining Eddy’s concentration.

 

“Youngjin, I just… how?”  Eddy sighs as his train of thought is interrupted by a rendition of  _ Lion Heart _ about two octaves lower than the original, leaning on the mop handle and staring tiredly at Youngjin’s back.  “How are you so damn happy all the time?”

 

Youngjin spins around on his heels, eyes wide, beyond overjoyed that one of his most favourite employees has a question for him.  

 

“ _ Manager  _ Youngjin!  And that’s easy, this place is the happiest place in all of-”

 

“No,  _ Manager _ Youngjin, cut that crap.”  Eddy shakes his head, and Youngjin blinks in confusion, nearly dropping an armful of straws on the floor.  “How are  _ you _ happy?  Do you really actually like working here?”

 

“Yeah, of course!”  Youngjin nods vehemently, nearly dropping the straws again and smiling when Eddy grabs a few handfuls from him to help him out.

 

“But, like, why?”  Eddy asks, voice dull as he drops a handful of straws into a dispenser.  “And please, don’t just tell me that this is the freakin’ happiest place on the whole planet again.  Because it’s not.”

 

“Oh, but this is!”  Youngjin’s smile is huge, showing a disturbingly large number of his disturbingly shiny teeth, and it just gets bigger when he sees how unimpressed Eddy looks.  “Here, let me show you something.”

 

Youngjin flings a lanky arm behind Eddy’s neck, pulling him close to his side and speaking at a volume that he probably thinks is a whisper but is the same as a normal person’s indoor voice.

 

“You get to meet all sorts of interesting people here, Eddy!  And then you give them warm food and a friendly place to eat it at, and it makes them happy!”

 

Eddy doesn’t have the energy to struggle out of Youngjin’s grip today, so he just stands there and lets his manager manhandle him.  “Youngjin, that’s what literally every other restaurant does-”

 

“Yeah, but look at  _ our _ customers, Eddy!  Because we’re always open, we always give them a happy place to be.”  Eddy opens his mouth to object, but Youngjin points at a table where a young mother is cutting a hamburger into small pieces for her toddler.  “There, look at them!  Look at that cute little kid playing with his Happy Meal toy and smiling at his mom!  Where else can you get a toy with your food?”

 

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe-”  Eddy’s cut off before he can list every other major chain in Korea where they do that.

 

“Or, or, or… okay, how about that guy?”  Youngjin crouches down behind the counter and pulls Eddy with him so they’re just peeking out from behind the cash register.

 

“Hadon’s weirdo?”  Eddy’s even more skeptical as he looks at the dark skeletal figure of the man with the shiny hair and a jawline that most models would kill to have, drinking his third caffeine injection of the day even though it’s dark outside now and stealing occasional glances into the kitchen when his attention isn’t focused on his notebook.  “He doesn’t look all that happy.”

 

“But he is!  And you know why?  Because we give him a place to do something that he loves!”

 

“What, overdose on caffeine?”  Eddy quirks an eyebrow at Youngjin, who just laughs and pulls Eddy even closer.

 

“No, silly!  Do you know what he has in that notebook?”  Youngjin asks conspiratorially, and he grins when Eddy shakes his head.  “It’s full of hundreds of drawings of Hadon.”

 

“What?!  What the fuck?  Are you serious?”  Eddy’s voice comes out a lot louder than he intended and the guy in all black tears his eyes away from the kitchen and directs his cold gaze at Eddy and Youngjin (looking pretty ridiculous huddled behind the cash register) instead.  “That’s messed up, do you think we should call the police…?”

 

“What?  No, it’s not like that at all!  I’ve talked to him a few times, and it’s nothing creepy!”  Youngjin laughs, undaunted by the extremely intimidating eyes of their regular.  “He just wants to talk to Hadon, but he’s too shy to do it.”

 

“That guy?  Too shy?!  He doesn’t look like the shy type, Youngjin.  He looks fucking scary.”

 

“Scary-looking people have feelings too.”  Youngjin says resolutely, “He really likes drawing and he wants to give Hadon a picture that he drew of him to start a conversation but he doesn’t think any of them are good enough, so that’s why he comes here every day, to draw a nice picture of Hadon!  And when he gets a good one, he’s going to give it to Hadon and ask him if he wants to do something with him sometime!  I think it’s sweet… he’s just an artist or something with a crush…”

 

“Or, maybe he’s a psychopath that wants to cut off Hadon’s skin and _wear_ _it_.”  Eddy hisses, wishing Youngjin was capable of whispering like a normal person because that guy’s still looking at them and it’s freaking Eddy out.

 

“Hey, that’s fine too.”  A low, apathetic voice says from behind them, and Eddy wonders exactly how long Hadon’s been standing there and listening to them talk.

 

“Oh, Hadon!”  Youngjin springs to his feet, hauling Eddy up along with him and nearly wrenching Eddy’s shoulder out of its socket in the process.  “Crap, you weren’t supposed to know that, it’s supposed to be a secret…”

 

Hadon blinks at Youngjin with disinterest, although his eyes seem to be slightly more open than usual as he casts a glance over at the guy with apparently hundreds of renditions of his image in his hands.  “Y’know… since it seems like he’s not going to talk to me anytime soon… if he’s still here on my next break, I’ll go and talk to him.”

 

“You really want to talk to him?!”  Eddy’s low whisper into one of Hadon’s large ears is full of incredulity.

 

“Yeah, why not?”  Hadon shrugs passively, still looking at the guy.  “Best case scenario, we go somewhere together and he buys me food.  Worst case scenario, he cuts off all my skin.  But I can’t come in to work without any skin, so it’s not really a loss, now is it?”

 

“I’m sure he won’t cut off all your skin!”  Youngjin shakes his head furiously, and Eddy nudges him in the ribs to get his attention.

 

“Not today anyways.”  Eddy gestures with his head at the guy, who’s stuffing his pencils and notebook into his shiny black man-purse-thing and getting ready to leave, “Looks like you’ll have to get your skin cut off by a psycho some other time.”

 

“Awh…”  Youngjin pouts in disappointment, until the guy is gone and they get a good view of a pair sitting at a booth that was directly behind his black-cloaked figure (like literally cloaked, he was wearing a cloak).  “Okay, Eddy!  What about those people?”

 

“What about them?”  Eddy asks, finally managing to shrug out of Youngjin’s hold and grabbing his mop again.

 

It’s just the pointy-faced dude and the guy with the puffy cheeks and tattoos from yesterday.  They show up every once in awhile, get burgers and fries and milkshakes and sit in a booth and eat and talk and smile and laugh quietly, just like pretty much all the other pairs of friends that come in here do. 

 

“We definitely make them happy!”  Youngjin smiles sappily in their direction as he puts himself to work again, checking the times written on the many pots of coffee they have brewing.  “We give them a place to be together!”

 

“What’s wrong with literally anyplace else?  Why can’t they ‘be together’ someplace nicer?”  Hadon drawls with boredom as he leans his elbows on the counter beside the cash register and rests his chin in his hands.

 

“Because we provide a safe, welcoming,  _ happy _ environment for our customers at all hours!” Youngjin sounds like he’s quoting the McDonald’s employee guidebook as he lifts up a pot of coffee in his big hands and stares intensely at the colour of the liquid inside.  “They’re kind of sad, actually… they really like each other but they don’t get many chances to be together, just the two of them… but here they have an excuse to spend time together, and they can come here whenever they want because we’re always open!”

 

“How do you even know that?”  Eddy directs a disbelieving glare at his manager before turning his attention back to the guys, watching the one with the tattoos tell a spirited story with a ton of hand gestures while the other one smiles and nods without ever interrupting.  “They just look like regular guys, Youngjin.  Or did you talk to them too?”

 

“Nah, didn’t have to.”  Youngjin says as he puts the coffee down in favour of checking the level of mix in the ice cream machine.  “I can tell just by looking at them.”   
  


“Yeah?”  Hadon snorts.  “You?  Are you sure?”

 

“Oh my god, Youngjin… they’re just normal dudes!”  Eddy groans as he drops the mop back into its bucket with a pointed splash.  “Do you really have nothing better to do with your time than make up stories about real people with real lives?”

 

“Nope.”  Youngjin’s toothy smile is still visible as he shakes his head.  “Besides, I’m not making it up!  I’m just observant, that’s all!”

 

“Uh-huh.”  Hadon actually cracks a grin as he shoots a glance over his shoulder at Youngjin.  “Is that why you’re pouring coffee in the ice cream machine?  Because you’re so…  _ observant _ ?”

 

“What?”  Youngjin’s grin falters as he looks from Hadon to his hands.  “Oh.  Shit.”

 

Hadon hangs his head as he lets out a low round of laughter and Eddy can’t help but sort of chuckle too as he watches Youngjin gaze in despair at the coffee pot and the ice cream mixer in turn, but his attention is torn away from the first amusing distraction of the day by someone calling his name.

 

“Uh, Eddy?”

 

Eddy turns, and who else would it be but his own personal weirdo, Henry, the guy who works at a dance studio, like, two blocks down, and who can’t count his money and has malfunctioning taste buds.

 

“Oh good, it’s you.”  Eddy’s smile only fades a little as he looks at the hopeful face of his most annoying customer.  “What do you want?  I hope it’s not ice cream, because if it is you’re shit outta luck-”

 

“Nah, it’s not ice cream, I don’t really like sweets…”  (Did Eddy ask for more pointless personal information?  No.)  “...I want a Big Mac meal!  And I also want to ask you something!”

 

“Man, I swear if you ask how spicy a Big Mac meal is I will put your head through the nearest-”

 

“Nope, it’s not that!”  Henry shakes his head real quick, holding up placating hands.  “Look, I bet you’re not busy tomorrow night, right?”

 

Eddy pushes the mental image of Youngjin with a mouth full of dry ribs and surrounded by about fifteen empty bottles of soju and Hadon passed out on the floor and using his dog as a pillow out of his mind.  “Of course I’m busy.  I’ve got plans.  With cool friends.  That definitely don’t work here.  Y’know, like actors and musicians and shit.”  

 

“Oh good!  So you’re not busy!”  Henry looks like he smiles out of relief more than anything, which is weird.  “So then… uh… I think you should take me out for dinner tomorrow!”

 

“You think  _ I  _ should take _ you _ out for dinner?”  Eddy blinks slowly,  “Shouldn’t that be the other way around?  And that’s not even a question-”

 

“Well, I’d take you, but I don’t know where to go!”  Henry shrugs.  “I want to go out for real Korean food… but like… not spicy Korean food… but I can’t really read menus or anything… but you can!”

 

“Sure I can, but why would I want to?”  Why is this even happening?  Eddy hasn’t ever given this guy any reason at all to think he even remotely tolerates his presence, much less wants to spend his free time with him.

 

Henry’s smile only falters ever so slightly.  “Look, I’ll even pay for everything!  Well… I mean, as long as it’s not too expensive… I don’t really have that much money…”

 

“You’d have a lot more money if you stopped coming here every day.”  Eddy punches in the Big Mac order anyways, getting ready to accept another mess of bills of random denominations.  

 

“But then I wouldn’t get to see you every day.”  Henry’s smile is back in full force, eyes crinkling into annoying upturned crescents.  “I like seeing you every day.”

 

“Are you… are you  _ hitting _ on me?”

 

“Only if you want me to be.”  Henry winks as he passes Eddy a handful of cash, and Eddy shudders.  “So I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

 

“Didn’t I tell you that I have-”  Eddy stops in his response and his counting of change when Henry leans across the counter and snatches Eddy’s phone out of his pants pocket.  “Dude, what the hell do you think you’re-”

 

“Phone number!”  Henry grins, digging his own phone out of his jacket.  “What’s your passcode?”

 

“I’m not letting you open my phone you-”  Eddy’s first instinct is to jump over the counter and punch this guy out, but he knows Youngjin is standing right behind him (still figuring out what to do about the ice cream) and it’s really not worth getting fired over this asshole. “Oh my god, fine… zero, five, four, two...”

 

Henry’s lips part into this big smile as he taps in the numbers, until he realizes Eddy’s phone’s default language is Korean.  At this point, Eddy assumes he would give up, but this guy is determined.  He fiddles around for a long time, each second that passes driving Eddy’s blood pressure dangerously higher, before he hands the phone back to Eddy.

 

“There you go!  Now you have me as a contact!”  Eddy opens his (sadly small) contact list and there the name  _ Henry _ is, followed by a bunch of smiley emojis,  “And I have your number too!”

 

“I didn’t want your number…”  Eddy groans, but Henry either doesn’t hear him or doesn’t care.

 

“I’ll text you and let you know when I’m done work tomorrow!”  Henry’s positivity is unerring this time, especially when Youngjin leans over Eddy’s shoulder to pass him a bag of food.

 

“I don’t care when you’re done work.”

 

“Bye!  See you tomorrow!  I like fried chicken!  Think of somewhere with good fried chicken!  That isn’t spicy!”  Henry waves his farewell, clutching his bag of greasy food to his chest.

 

“I never said I’d go…”  Eddy hangs his head in exasperation, wondering why exactly this guy can’t take no for an answer, but Henry’s already out the door with his stupid burger and fries so Eddy’s just left with griping to himself.

 

For about two seconds, anyways, before Youngjin’s curiosity gets the better of the him.

 

“Eddy, Eddy, Eddy, what was that about?!”  Youngjin turns away from the ice cream once more, and he can barely contain his excitement, looking more like a puppy expecting a treat than the guy who’s supposed to be Eddy’s boss.  “Why did he take your phone?  Did you give him your number?  Does he like you?  Did he ask you out?!”

 

“No, he, uh…”  Eddy wipes at his hairline at the back of his hand, why does this guy always make him so damn sweaty?  “...he just wants to buy me… fried chicken, or something, tomorrow night.  But like, it’s not a date or anything…”

 

“Sounds like a date to me.”  Hadon pokes his head out of the kitchen, mildly amused as he tries futilely to clean his greasy hands on his apron.

 

“Well, it’s not.”  Honestly, Eddy doesn’t really know what the guy wants, but his best guess would be that he just wants Eddy as his personal translator.  “And I never even said I’d go.”

 

“You should go!”  Youngjin claps his hands in enthusiasm from his perch beside the ice cream machine, where he’ll now be holding the lever down for the next two hours to empty it of vaguely coffee-flavoured frozen dessert.  “He seems nice!  And going on a date sounds nice!  You know, I’ve never actually been on a date before…”

 

“You?  Really?  No way.”  Hadon widens his eyes in false surprise as he looks at Youngjin eating out of his big vat of accumulating coffee-ice cream with a huge spoon he got from god knows where, whitish smears around his lips and melted rivulets on his shirt,  “But seriously, Eddy, you should go.  Who cares if it’s a date or not?  Either way you get free food.  Free meat, even.”

 

“Yeah, true, but he’s so fucking annoying.”  Eddy can feel his blood pressure spike just from trying to imagine what Henry would possibly act like in a real restaurant. 

 

“More annoying than this?”  Hadon gestures at Youngjin, happily offering a spoonful of ice-cream to Mihyun (one of the girls who dresses burgers in the back), who rolls her eyes and flips her ponytail over her shoulder,  “Look, it’ll probably be healthy for you to be away from us and burgers and grease and sitting at home alone and thinking about all your shitty auditions for one night, right?”

 

“I guess…”  Eddy sighs, leaning back against the cash register and pointedly ignoring Youngjin thrusting the spoon in his direction, “You’re okay with being stuck with Youngjin by yourself?”

 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”  Hadon nods as Youngjin perks up at the sound of his name, somehow managing to smile around the big spoon in his mouth.  “I’m going to make him bring all the drinks and galbijjim too.”

 

“I’m going to bring what?”  Youngjin blinks innocently, looking more like a five year old than a man well over six feet tall with his sticky hands and ice cream stained shirt.

 

“You heard me, Youngjin.  I’m not letting you through my door if you aren’t holding lots of alcohol and even more meat tomorrow, got it?”  

 

“ _ Manager _ Youngjin.”  Youngjin grins through a mouthful of coffee-ice cream.  “And I’ll bring  _ whatever _ you want!”

 

Hadon rubs at his temples as he turns back to the kitchen.  “Y’know, I’m jealous of you, Eddy.  I wish my stalker would actually talk to me.  I’d much rather be getting skinned tomorrow night instead of dealing with  _ Manager _ Youngjin.”

 

Eddy shrugs as he straightens out his visor and wipes his sweaty palms on his thighs, preparing to deal with next batch of incoming customers.  

 

Normally he’d say that he’d rather be stuck with Youngjin than some persistent asshole who can’t even speak Korean, but thinking about it, eating food in a real restaurant actually sounds kind of nice.  Eating food somebody else buys for him sounds even better.  Eating food that somebody else buys for him in a real restaurant that doesn’t smell like onions and grease and Big Mac sauce sounds best of all.

 

So what if Henry’s a little (a lot) annoying and he asks way too many questions and he dresses weird and he may or may not like Eddy a little more than Eddy would hope (he’s still not sure if he’s being flirted with or if Henry’s just really bad at talking to people in general)?

 

He wants to buy Eddy food, so he can’t be that bad of a guy, right?

  
Tomorrow night can’t possibly be a disaster, can it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave me comments you soggy fries


	4. only complete tools dip their fries in their milkshakes

 

“What are you doing here _now_?  I thought the whole point of you stealing my phone yesterday was so you’d text me when you were done work?”

 

Henry shrugs.  “Well… I got off work early and I figured you’d be done soon, so I just kinda came here, I guess…”

 

They haven’t even left for their not-a-date date thing, Eddy’s still taking orders and dreaming up the different ways he could be killed in a pleasant freak accident involving ketchup and onions (it probably requires Hadon’s help), and Henry’s already here, at his work, and he’s really annoying.

 

“I don’t finish my shift for another hour…”

 

“That’s fine.”  Henry’s nonplussed, flipping his long bangs out of his eyes only for them to fall straight back to where they started out.

 

“You seriously have nothing better to do than hang around here and wait for me?”  Eddy folds his arms in front of himself and gives the guy a once-over as he speaks, feeling all the more annoyed for it.

 

Because Henry actually looks sort of good.  Just sort of.  Maybe.

 

Better than usual anyways.  

 

He’s ditched the Chinese pop star look for something slightly more acceptable: jeans that actually kind of fit, sneakers that only have one small scuff over the left big toe, a big chunky knit sweater.  He’s still got the same dumb piercings in and there’s a hint of some lime green fluorescent socks peeking out at his ankles, but overall it’s still a noticeable improvement.

 

“I’ve got nothing I’d like to do more.”  Henry smiles, and Eddy finds it really hard to believe that this guy honestly wants to just wait around at McDonald’s for him, but their limited past experience together tells Eddy that he’s not going to go away easily.

 

“Fine, but like… order something, okay?”  Eddy sighs, “You can’t just… fucking hang around here and loiter, or whatever…”

 

So Henry orders a iced Americano and Eddy tries not to punch a hole straight through the cash register when he’s handed a mess of coins (some of which he’s pretty sure are Chinese), and when he’s got his drink he gives Eddy this big goofy grin and totally unnecessary wink.

 

“I’ll see you in an hour, then?”  He says, already slurping through his straw and causing what’s well on its way to becoming a recurring twitch in Eddy’s left eye.  

 

“I literally can’t go anywhere else…”  Eddy frowns as Henry takes another loud guzzle at his drink, “Now go sit somewhere, I’ve got customers to serve and you’re gonna scare them away.”

 

And Henry laughs and gives Eddy a lazy wave and plops himself down at the nearest table so Eddy has an infuriatingly good view of him sitting there and messing with his hair and playing with his phone and tugging on his piercing for another hour of the same awful job that he does nearly every day.

 

“Eddy!”  Youngjin exclaims when Eddy trudges back into the kitchen at the end of his shift, taking off his visor and running hands through his tragically greasy hair.  “What’s wrong?  Your face is like, really red!”

 

“Ugh… it’s… that guy…”  Eddy mumbles as he works his way around burger wrappers and deep fryers.

 

“What guy?”  Youngjin’s look of borderline concern is instantly replaced with a huge tooth-revealing smile.  “The one that you’re going on a date with tonight?  What’s up with him?”

 

“It’s not a date.”  Eddy stares at his reflection in one of the kitchen’s many range hoods, deciding there’s no hope left for his hair.  “And he’s just… he’s here already…”

 

Youngjin pokes his head out of the kitchen and takes a quick scan around the dining area, somehow smiling even wider when he spies Henry, who seems to be bobbing his head along to music even though he doesn’t have headphones in and there’s no music playing in the whole place.  

 

“What’s wrong with that?  It must mean that he really likes you and that he can’t wait to see you!”

 

If Eddy didn’t feel so flustered he’d probably reflect more on whether or not Hadon is really the one they should worry about being killed by a stalker, but right now Eddy’s own probably-not-a-stalker-but-possibly-a-stalker is out there, waiting for him, and Eddy looks like the saddest, grossest, lamest person in this entire McDonald’s (and by default their whole neighbourhood and probably most of Seoul).

 

“Well, I kinda figured I’d at least get to go home and shower and change before I saw him, y’know?”

 

“If it’s not a date, why do you care what you look like?”  Hadon’s monotone voice has just the smallest hint of amusement creeping into it as he leans back against his deepfryers and raises an eyebrow in Eddy’s direction.

 

“Because maybe once, just once, I’d like to go somewhere without being covered in grease?”

 

“That’s a luxury only enjoyed by people who didn’t go to acting school…”  Hadon says, staring off into the distance wistfully, likely reminiscing about earlier days where he didn’t leave oily handprints on everything he touched no matter how many times he washed his hands.

 

“Lot of good that is right now… what the shit am I supposed to wear?”  Eddy tugs at his uniform in frustration, “I’m not going to eat anywhere wearing this…”

 

“Not to worry!”  Youngjin’s huge hands clamp down on Eddy’s shoulders and steer him towards the back of the kitchen.  “I’ve got plenty of clothes in the manager’s office!  Let’s go pick out something nice!”

 

Before Eddy can really protest Youngjin’s shoved him into the tiny little office at the very back of the whole restaurant.  Eddy’s never actually seen the inside of it, Youngjin always prefers helping out in the kitchen and spending time with (bothering) his employees over doing paperwork or whatever it is that actual McDonald’s managers who aren’t Youngjin do, but upon seeing the inside, he’s got to wonder if the real reason Youngjin never uses the office is because it’s packed full of clothes.

 

“Youngjin, what the hell?”  Eddy gapes as he looks at the fifteen-odd jackets hooked onto the back of the door, the mountains of shirts piled over the chairs, the pants hanging off a makeshift clothesline spanning the length of the office.  “What is all this?”

 

Hadon lets loose a tiny gasp of horror from where he’s standing the doorway, the biggest reaction to anything Eddy can remember him having in a very long time.  “Oh my god, you don’t seriously live here, do you?”  

 

“What?”  Youngjin’s tongue is peeking out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrates hard at rifling through a pile of shirts, pulling different pieces out and holding them against Eddy’s chest to check the size, “Oh, no… I just have a lot of clothes, that’s all.”

 

“Yeah, but like, _why_?”  Eddy asks as he peels off his damp uniform shirt with relief, accepting a very modest, very soft, very black, and oddly very expensive-feeling sweater from his manager.

 

Youngjin just shrugs, completely nonchalant.  “Well, sometimes during modelling gigs they give you free stuff, or they ask you to wear some of the clothing to like, represent the brand or whatever, and I kind of ran out of room in my apartment and I needed somewhere to-”

 

“Hold up, what?”  Eddy stops with the sweater halfway over his head, absolutely certain that the thick knit impaired his hearing.  “You didn’t just say _modelling_ , did you?”

 

“Uh huh.”  Youngjin nods, frowning as he starts to shift through the pants.

 

“You?  You…”  Hadon repeats, slumping against the doorframe, “ _You’re_ a model?”

 

“Yeah!”  Youngjin grabs for a pair of pants, looks at the waistband, looks at Eddy’s hips, scrunches up his face.  “I mean, like, not all the time, obviously!  But I get bored when I’m not working here so… sometimes people give me money to wear clothes!  It’s fun… although it’s not as fun as working here!”

 

Eddy’s at a loss for words as the lanky, huge-mouthed, wild-haired, McDonald’s-loving guy that at best passes for an overgrown child hands him a pair of pants.

 

“Fuckin’ unbelievable…”  Hadon murmurs, shaking his head while Eddy kicks off his shoes and work pants.

 

Youngjin appears completely oblivious to the sheer amount of shock in the room, instead scratching at his chin as he watches Eddy tug the pants up his thighs.  “Sorry, I know sweatpants aren’t really great for a date, but uh… I don’t think you can fit in any of my other pants… at least everything’s black though, right?”

 

“That’s a nice way of saying that your ass is too big.”  Hadon’s somewhat recovered from the bomb Youngjin dropped, lips quirking upwards as he watches Eddy struggle to get the pants on all the way.  

 

“Okay, first, at least unlike Youngjin, I _have_ an ass-” Youngjin smiles at this, probably just happy that someone’s looked at his (practically nonexistent) ass at all, “-and second, it’s not a date.”

 

“Whatever it is, you shouldn’t keep him waiting so long…” Youngjin has to push some coats out of the way to actually see the clock on his office wall, “...so let’s fix your hair and then you should go!”

 

“Nah, it’s good, I’ll just put it under a hat-”

 

“No!  Not on a date!” Youngjin’s already leaning over and sticking his enormous fingers into Eddy’s hair.  

 

“It’s not a date!” Eddy tries, but Youngjin is undeterred, pushing and pulling until he seems satisfied and steps back to admire his handiwork.

 

“Oh.  No.  Not like that.”  Hadon snorts as he reluctantly tears himself away from his post at the door and decides to get in on the action, straightening up and fiddling with Eddy’s bangs.  “There, that’s better.”

 

“A middle part?”  Youngjin pulls a face, shakes his head, “No way.”  

 

Then Youngjin’s hands and Hadon’s hands are all in his hair at the same time and Eddy thinks this may be a new low in his McDonald’s career.  “What are you guys even doing?  Aren’t there girls that work here?  Shouldn’t I be asking them for help, instead of you idiots?”

 

“Yeah,” Hadon smacks one of Youngjin’s hands away as he tries to undo some of his work, “But the girls are actually useful and we need them to run the place, and we’re fucking useless so we may as well do this.”

 

Eddy can’t argue with that and he’s resolved not to lose his temper at least before going for food with the guy that gets on his nerves even faster than these two, so he just sits there and lets them do what they want until they look at each other and shrug.

 

“Well… it’s weird that it stays stuck up like that on its own but-”  Youngjin starts, and Hadon frowns, tugging at a stray chunk of hair poking into Eddy’s eye and pulling it off his face.

 

“I think it’s all the grease.”  

 

“-but it looks good!”  Youngjin finishes.  “Now go!  Have fun, tell us about all the sexy bits tomorrow!”

 

“There aren’t going to be any ‘sexy bits’, you nut, it’s just fried chicken!”  Eddy’s indignation falls on deaf ears as he attempts to get his coat on while Youngjin’s hustling him out of the office and through the kitchen.

 

He only catches a quick glimpse of his reflection in the stainless steel appliances of the kitchen, long enough to wonder what in the everloving fuck Hadon and Youngjin did to his hair because it’s poofy and mostly pushed off his face but somehow there’s also this big fluffy curl in the front, but not long enough to actually stop and try to change anything about it, because he’s shoved out of the kitchen at the same time that Henry looks up from his phone and he sees him with _the hair_ and now it’s too late to fix it and pretend it never happened.

 

Maybe it’s not all that bad though, because Henry absolutely beams when they make eye contact, getting to his feet way too quickly and nearly knocking whatever’s left of his coffee all over his table while Eddy walks reluctantly over to him.

 

“Hey man!  You look like, really good!”  Henry grins as he takes in Youngjin’s clothing and what Eddy still thinks is probably a tragic hairdo, “Who’d have thought you’d clean up so well?”

 

Even with the borrowed clothes Eddy feels pretty far from clean, but he can’t actually remember the last time that anyone told him he looks good at all.  So even though the compliment isn’t coming from his number one person of choice (Hani… or maybe Taeyeon?) and it’s not even really a great compliment, his cheeks still heat up ever so slightly.

 

“Whatever, let’s just go.”  Eddy grumbles as he glances behind himself and spies Youngjin and Hadon watching him from the safety of behind the counter, “I think I’ll actually go crazy if I have to spend another second here today.”

 

Henry nods enthusiastically, following close on Eddy’s heels (too close, he steps on Eddy once and it takes all the willpower Eddy’s got not to hit him) and letting himself be led out into the hustle and bustle of a Seoul evening.  

 

“So, where are we headed?”  Henry’s tone is light, good-natured, excited as he steps up beside Eddy, bumps their shoulders together like they’re old friends or something.

 

Eddy wishes they didn’t have to walk so close together, but the street’s actually kind of crowded so it can’t really be helped.  “You’ll see… it’s pretty close to here though.”

 

Eddy had decided on a place earlier, just a chimaek place that he goes to with Hadon (and Youngjin) once in awhile when they feel up to something slightly more extravagant than eating burgers in the back alley at work or drinking in Hadon’s tiny apartment.  It’s not super expensive but since Eddy’s not paying it’s not super cheap either.  But most importantly, he chose it because of its close proximity to the McDonald’s; he wants to spend as little time as possible having to talk to this guy without food in his mouth and a beer in his hand.

 

The walk there is painful, but not quite as painful as Eddy had imagined it was going to be.

 

Henry asks a ton of questions, sure.  

 

He looks at everything with wide eyes and asks Eddy about the stores and displays they pass by and if bundegi is really as gross as it sounds like it is and why it’s so hard to find snack food that doesn’t have gochujang in it in some form and who on earth first thought that deep-frying a hotdog using french fries as breading was a good idea and he presses his face up against the claw machines lining the sidewalks and insists on going back to one later so he can win Eddy a pikachu plushie (Eddy doesn’t want or need one but why would Henry listen to him?), but all-in-all, it’s not so bad.

 

In a way, it’s kind of nice to have someone ask him questions that aren’t just about the menu at McDonald’s.  And the way everything seems so new and exciting to Henry actually makes Eddy stop and really look at the same street he walks down every day that he always thought was kind of dreary and depressing.      

 

The constant chatter is annoying and the tugging on the sleeve of Eddy’s coat every time Henry spots something strange or interesting is really annoying (“Ooh, can we go back for that thing where you bite it and try not to break the shape in the middle later?” [Eddy tells him multiple times that it’s called _dalgona_ but Henry seems incapable of remembering the word]), but Eddy also does notice that Henry also keeps wiping his hands on the thighs of his jeans and that he seems to be determined not to let conversation stop for even a second, and he briefly wonders if Henry might be nervous.

 

He dismisses the thought almost as quickly as it enters his head though.  

 

What reason would Henry have to be nervous about fried chicken?  

 

If anyone should be nervous, it’s Eddy.  He’s the one that allowed himself to be talked into going for a meal with a virtual stranger that has taken a bizarre and hopefully not creepy interest in him.  

 

But they get to the chimaek place without too much incident and Eddy’s thoughts change to ones related to chicken and how much he wants to eat it instead of thoughts about how weird the whole situation is.

 

And even sitting down and ordering doesn’t go too bad.  They get a tiny table to themselves, Eddy explains the menu (Henry insists on being told the difference between every type of chicken the place serves), Henry’s at least slightly more decisive when it comes to fried chicken than McDonald’s so he only waffles for a few minutes between the classic double deep-fried and garlicky and sweet, Eddy tells him to just get half of both, Eddy orders for them: two beers, Henry’s chicken, and he gets the kind coated in sticky spicy sauce for himself.

 

Pretty much everything goes downhill when their waitress returns with beer.   Slowly, maybe, but downhill all the same.

 

“Uh, sorry man,” Henry says when the cold frothy liquid, the drinking of which is undeniably one of the better ways to forget that you work at McDonald’s momentarily, is placed in front of him, “But I don’t drink.  You can have mine though.”

 

Eddy blinks dumbly, pausing halfway through swallowing a big mouthful of beer as Henry shoves his glass across the table.  “You don’t drink?  Like, you don’t drink beer, or…?”

 

“No, like, at all.  I don’t drink alcohol.”  Henry smiles and nods his head as Eddy swallows painfully.  “I don’t mind if you do though.”

 

“Are you serious?”  Eddy sighs as he calls their waitress back over and orders Henry a soda instead, “You don’t eat spicy food, you don’t drink… what good are you?”

 

He didn’t really mean it in a hurtful way and he’s already said way ruder things to Henry in the short time they’ve known each other that Henry laughed off instantly, but for whatever reason, just for a moment, Henry’s big goofy smile slips.

 

Then it’s back, nearly twice as wide when their waitress hands him a coke and he slurps happily at it, just as loudly as he did his iced coffee only a short while earlier.

 

“Why me?”  Eddy groans, puts his elbows on the table and rests his very tired head in his hands as he listens to Henry suck pop up through his straw, “Why did you want _me_ to go for food with you?  Aren’t I just some random guy that works at McDonald’s to you?”

 

“Well…”  Henry plays with the straw in his drink, using it to clink ice cubes together, “...you were, at first.  But then you talked to me in English!  And like, good English too!  Like, a lot of people here can speak English, but they can’t really _speak_ English, y’know?  Not enough to have a real conversation with at all… so I thought that was pretty awesome!  And then I took a good look at you and thought you looked too old to still be in school-”

 

“Oh, okay, thanks a bunch-”

 

“-so I wondered what you were doing working at a Macca’s, y’know?  Then I figured that you’ve got to be living a pretty sad life to be working at a Macca’s at your age-”

 

“Wow, thanks again-”

 

“-and that we’re also probably around the same age!  And I really haven’t met anyone around my age here that I could actually talk to and it didn’t really seem like you had anything better to do, so… I thought maybe you’d like to do something with me… and here we are, I guess?”   

 

“And here we are, I guess.”  Eddy repeats, wondering where the chicken is so he can sit here and eat instead of thinking about how truly depressing it is that a total stranger could take one look at him and tell how pathetic his life is, “But why are you here?  Why’d you come to Korea at all if you don’t have any friends here and you can’t even speak Korean?”

 

Henry stalls for a second, smile faltering again momentarily, taking a long sip out of his coke and rearranging his hair a few times before answering.

 

“Uh, back home things were… well, they weren’t going so hot… I, uh, I went to acting school-”

 

“Shit, no way.” Eddy interrupts, hit with an unusually strong wave of empathy, “Man, acting school really was fucking useless, wasn’t it?”

 

“You went to acting school too?”  Henry’s been smiling the whole time but somehow it changes slightly, looks a bit more natural, especially when Eddy nods his confirmation, “Wow, sucks to be the both of us, right?  Anyways, yeah… I went to acting school, graduated, got a degree in acting even… and then… uh… nothing really came of it.  Like, I looked for work, but the best I could do was teaching dance part-time and helping out in my mom’s restaurant and it all got sort of depressing, y’know?”

 

Oh, how Eddy knows.  He takes a big swig of beer, finishing off his first glass and nodding for Henry to continue.  

 

“And I had some family and friends that lived in China and I thought because of my Asian face and all maybe that’s why I wasn’t doing so great in Australia…” So that’s what his weird accent is supposed to be, “...and I figured I’d give the acting scene there a go!  But, uh… I spent a while there and I was still only getting like… super part-time work… and then this Chinese friend of mine, he came back from Korea where he’d been working as a dance teacher full-time and he said he could hook me up and that I didn’t even really need to speak Korean for the job, and at that point I thought why not, y’know?”

 

“Huh.”

 

“Yup.  And that’s pretty much it.  Now I’m here… and, uh… things are looking up!”  Henry smiles even wider for emphasis, but there’s a weird little tremor in his voice that Eddy manages to hear over the sounds of the customers around them chatting happily and chomping down on chicken.  “Yeah… things are… definitely getting better…”

 

Eddy’s about to ask him if he’s sure because it doesn’t really sound like anything’s getting better at all, but he’s not sure if they know each other well enough for that heavy of a talk and Eddy’s in a worse position anyways so it’s not like he can give any advice, and their food shows up right at that moment so he’s spared from having that conversation.

 

“Okay, so those are the not spicy ones, this is the spicy one, obviously, because it’s red… all of the sauces they come with are pretty spicy, especially that one, so I’d avoid them if I were you… like you can try them but don’t complain to me if they hurt you…” Eddy explains as he rearranges all the incoming dishes on the table, “...those are… uh, I don’t know how to say it in English but uh… deep-fried tteokbokki?  And those are pickled radishes… you’ll like them, I think.”

 

Henry’s smile changes again, looks almost grateful as they dig in, although he’s still set on not letting the conversation stop.

 

“So, what about you, mate?”  He asks, mouth full of batter and chicken,  “Why do you work at a Macca’s?”

 

Eddy shrugs, chewing on a stick of tteokbokki, reaching for his beer to wash it down.  “Same as you, I guess… Did the whole acting school thing, kept looking for acting jobs but… there just aren’t that many and there’s always someone better than you are… or at least that the producers like better than you…”

 

Henry nods, makes an understanding face around the slice of radish that he’s crunching on.  “Yup…”

 

Eddy normally doesn’t talk about this kind of stuff, especially with people he doesn’t know well because who really wants to admit that they’re a practically out-of-work actor who works at a fast food place, but Henry already knows that he works at McDonald’s and that’s the biggest shameful secret he’s got so his mouth doesn’t seem to mind telling him the rest.  

 

“And uh, I tried for a long time to just survive off the gigs I could get but I started like, literally starving so I could pay my rent… and I like eating food, so I decided to look for any full-time work I could get… and there’s not much here, really.  Pretty much all the jobs were in restaurants and they all paid about the same… and actually, I went to acting school with one of the guys I work with-” Henry snorts at this and Eddy laughs too, “-and he got me the job there and I’ve kinda been stuck there ever since.”

 

“Is working there as bad as you make it look?”  Henry asks, voice a little wheezy.

 

“Only when I get customers like you.”  Eddy actually smiles as he says this between bites of his spicy chicken wings, and Henry chuckles, coughing a little.  “Also, I’m pretty sure everyone I work with is sort of insane-”

 

“W-why’s that?”  Henry stutters slightly.

 

“Oh man, where to start…?  Well, first off, my manager… he… uh-”  Eddy’s cut off by Henry trying to stifle what sounds like a violent cough, and Eddy’s focus has mainly been on the chicken and the beer so far, but now he looks up at Henry’s face and nearly spits out his mouthful of beer.  “Holy shit, are you okay?!”

 

Henry’s face is red.  Like, bright red.  Actually, bright red and blotchy but even the blotches are bright red and the redness is spreading to his ears and down his neck right before Eddy’s eyes.

 

“Yeah, f-fine…” Henry croaks, coughs, attempts to drink some soda, coughs again.

 

“Shit, no you aren’t!”  The redness is running down the skin under the neck of his sweater and his hands are starting to look patchy, “What’s happening?  What did you do?!”

 

“I… I-I, uhm…”  Henry takes a big gasp of air, tugs at his sweater before holding up incriminatingly red fingertips, “...I m-may have tried the spicy s-sauce…”

 

“What the fuck?!  Why?  Why would you do that?!”

 

The big smile that’s been plastered on Henry’s face all evening is completely gone now, and he looks absolutely miserable as he tries to hide his flaming face with hands that are nearly as red.

 

“I just wanted to fit in…”

 

“You what?”

 

“I j-just wanted to fit in...” Henry repeats, voice now a painful rough whisper, “I’ve worked so hard for so long but nothing ever worked out, and I thought once I came here and got a full-time job doing something I love that everything would be better b-but… everything still sucks!  I’ve got nobody to talk to or spend time with and I don’t fit in anywhere and you’re right, I’m not good for anything because I can’t drink or eat spicy food... but then things were going so well here and we actually seemed to be kind of similar so I was thinking that maybe I finally found someone to hang out with... and I was watching you eat and you weren’t having any trouble with the food and I thought that maybe if I could eat more like you, you’d want to spend more time with me… I just wanted to be less lonely…”

 

Henry coughs into his elbow, trying his best to cover his face with his hair and his sweater but Eddy can still see the red-hot tips of his ears, and, well, Eddy feels bad.

 

He feels _so_ bad.

 

Maybe it’s stupid how bad he feels, but he doesn’t remember the last time someone who wasn’t Youngjin or Hadon or his parents (sometimes he’s not even entirely sure about Hadon) wanted to be around him at all.

 

Eddy spends every second that he isn’t at work feeling like a lonely failure, and apparently this guy does too.  Even if he did have some really weird and somewhat infuriating ways of going about it, all Henry’s wanted is to spend time with Eddy, and Eddy’s been a dick to him the whole time because he was too stupid and wrapped up in feeling sorry for himself to see it.

 

And as much as it pains Eddy to admit it, up until this point everything tonight with this annoying Australian guy has been kind of fun, and now that he thinks about it, while they were talking Eddy actually felt slightly less lonely himself.

 

So he’s going to make it up to Henry.  He guesses.  If he has to (he thinks he does).

 

First he’s going to make sure Henry isn’t going to die though, because he looks like he might.

 

Eddy reaches across the table, lays a sweaty palm (why is he _always_ so sweaty?) on Henry’s shaking shoulder.  “Hey… so like, are you allergic to spicy food or something?  Do you need to go to the hospital?”

 

Henry shakes his head, peeking up at Eddy with red eyes from beneath his bangs.  “I dunno… I might be allergic?  Maybe?  Whenever I eat something spicy something like this happens… but I’ll be fine, my tongue will just be swollen and my mouth will hurt and I’ll be red like this for the rest of the night, that’s all…”

 

Eddy’s well aware that pretty much everyone in the restaurant is staring at them, a whole bunch of pairs of Korean eyes judging the foreigners that are speaking English and are unable to eat Korean food and he guesses that that’s making Henry feel about a thousand times worse and he wonders if there’s anything he can do to make Henry look a little less worse and that’s when the image of an unfortunately very familiar place pops into his head.

 

And as much as he doesn’t want to spend a second there that he doesn’t have to, it seems like right now it’s the best thing he can do.

 

“Come on, get up.”  Eddy mumbles as he scarfs down the last few pieces of chicken they've got left and chugs the end of his beer.  

 

“W-what?  Why?”  Henry stammers as he clumsily gets to his feet, shaking his head when he sees Eddy pulling out his wallet, “And I said I’d pay…”

 

Eddy leads Henry to the cash register with him, hands over a nicely counted amount of his own bills to the employee.  “You can pay for the next stuff.”

 

“Next stuff?”  Henry asks as he follows Eddy out onto the street, back the way they came.

 

“Yup,” Eddy nods, “You’ll see.”

 

And Henry does see (as best as he can through his puffy eyes anyways).

 

“Oh?  Here again?”  Henry peers up at the instantaneously recognizable logo of the store as Eddy opens the door for him, “I kinda figured this would be the last place you’d want to go…”

 

For Eddy, it kind of is.  But no matter what he seems to do in his life anymore, he always ends up back here.

 

“Yeah, well… I had an idea, okay?”  Eddy sighs as he walks up to the cash register, sighing even harder when he sees who exactly is manning it.

 

“Hey Eddy!”  Youngjin booms in his usual ‘indoor’ voice, “What are you doing back here?  Can’t keep away, right?!  I knew you loved it here!”

 

“Youngjin… Holy shit Youngjin, haven’t you been here all day?  Do you ever actually go home?  When exactly are you even going to Hadon’s tonight?”

 

“Oh, and he’s here with you!  Hi, Eddy’s date!”  Youngjin is oblivious to Eddy’s questions and instead does that smile where he shows every single tooth he’s got and if Henry could understand Korean Eddy would’ve punched Youngjin in the teeth right this second.

 

But Henry doesn’t understand Korean so all of Youngjin’s teeth stay attached to his gums.  

 

“What kind of milkshake do you like?”  Eddy ignores Youngjin, turning to Henry.

 

“Uh… I don’t really like sweets but…”  Henry’s still trying to cover up his mottled face with his hands as he squints up at the menu, “...vanilla, I guess?”

 

“Vanilla’s boring, pick again.”

 

“I _like_ vanilla.”

 

“Okay, fuck, fine.”  Eddy was just going to have them share one milkshake to make things cheaper but like hell he’s going to drink a plain vanilla shake, “Uh, Youngjin?  A medium vanilla shake, a medium chocolate shake, and a large fries, I guess.”

 

“Sure!”  Youngjin smiles, pokes at some buttons on the cash register with his large fingers, frowns, pokes at some different buttons, frowns harder, pokes at another set of buttons, jumps a little when the cash starts beeping at him.

 

“Youngjin...”  Eddy starts, “What-”

 

“No, no, I’ve got it!”

 

Youngjin hits some stuff and the beeping gets louder.

 

“Youngjin-”

 

“I can do it!”

 

The beeping’s getting loud enough that Eddy can feel other customers staring at them.

 

“Youngjin-”

 

“I can-”

 

The beeping’s so loud Eddy swears his head is going to explode and he leans over the cash register and punches in his own order upside-down, letting out an audible sigh of relief when it goes through and the beeping stops.  

 

“That’ll be eight thousand won!”  Youngjin shouts with a huge smile, like he didn’t just nearly break a cash register or anything, and this time Henry takes out his wallet and hands over random cash, like he always does.  “And come on, it’s _Manager_ Youngjin!”

 

Eddy rolls his eyes before wondering what’s taking Hadon so long with their fries, peeking back into the kitchen and seeing that Hadon’s not there at all.  “Okay, _Manager_ Youngjin, where’s Hadon?”

 

Youngjin’s big grin grows even wider as he points behind Eddy, out to the tables.  “He’s on break.  Look.  He said he’d go talk to him, and he did!”

 

Eddy must have walked straight past them when he came in and not even noticed, because Hadon’s perched on a stool that gives a good view of the kitchen and flipping through a sketchbook that belongs to their black-clad caffeine-loving beanpole regular.  Said regular is right next to Hadon, and he looks beyond flustered and is talking a mile-a-minute and pointing at things in the book when he isn’t wringing his hands together and Eddy can’t really make out what either of them are saying and Hadon’s expression is unreadable, but he doesn’t look upset and all he’s doing is nodding his head and asking the occasional low question.

 

“Well… uh… that’s good, I guess?”  Eddy’s not really sure what to make of it, but at least they both have all their own skin on.

 

“It’s good?  It’s great!” Youngjin barks, “Hadon, like, actually smiled a minute ago!  Actually!  At least, I think it was a smile… but still!”

 

“Huh.”  Eddy stares harder at the pair, notices that Hadon’s sitting a little bit closer to their regular than he probably needs to be, but he’s forced to look away when Youngjin passes him and Henry milkshakes and fries.

 

“Here you go!  Enjoy your food, enjoy your date!  I’d like to stick around and talk, but I’ve got important things to do!”  Youngjin gathers up some sheets of paper he had lying on the counter next to the cash and gestures with his head to a booth occupied by some more familiar faces.

 

“Still not a date!  And I hope your ‘important things’ don’t involve harassing customers!”  Eddy calls out as Youngjin clambers around the counter and in the direction of the regulars, the guy with all the tattoos and the really round face and the thin guy that’s all sharp edges, who are blissfully unaware of the destructive force headed towards them as they share a McFlurry.

 

Eddy shakes his head as he watches Youngjin slide into the booth next to the cherubic-looking dude, mouth wide and making tons of animated hand gestures as he shoves paper in their directions while the two customers stare at him in shock, and it takes Henry coughing behind him for Eddy to remember what they were here for in the first place.

 

“Sorry… uh… yeah… that’s the manager…” Eddy explains as he grabs the sleeve of Henry’s sweater with a free hand and pulls him around the counter.  “...he’s nice, but he’s also fuckin’ nuts… and for the next thirty seconds you work here, okay?”

 

Henry nods his bewildered agreeance as Eddy leads him through the kitchen and out the employee’s entrance in the back of the restaurant, ignoring the looks from the college girls they pass by.

 

Eddy wishes they had somewhere private to go that’s nicer than what he has in mind, but the only other place they could be kind of alone is his apartment and he’s not ready to show Henry that hovel yet.  

 

To be fair, he’s going to one-up sitting on the back steps next to the dumpsters like he normally does with Hadon.  

 

“Hold this for a sec.”  Eddy passes his milkshake to Henry and clambers up onto the top of the nearest dumpster, smiling a little to himself when Henry’s jaw drops ever so slightly as Eddy jumps and pulls down the ladder to the fire-escape above them then extends a hand to him, “Come on up.”

 

Henry only looks uncertain for a second, but then he takes Eddy’s hand and lets him haul him up on top of the dumpster.  They go up three floors, Eddy going first up the ladders and getting Henry to pass the food him after, until they reach the top of the building.

 

“Sorry, I know it’s not much, but…” Eddy sits on the edge of the fire-escape, lets his legs dangle between the railings and over the side, motioning for Henry to sit beside him, “...I kinda thought you might like some peace and quiet, and I couldn’t really think of where else to go…”

 

“No, it’s nice…” Henry says as he sits, looking down into the alleyway, across over the rooftops of neighbouring buildings, at all the night lights reflected in the glass of the highrises around them, “...it is.  But why the milkshakes and fries?”

 

“The milkshakes are to stop your mouth from burning,” Eddy says, gesturing at Henry’s still very red and very blotchy face, “And the fries are because you don’t like sweet things.”

 

Henry looks confused, cocks an eyebrow at Eddy as he pops the lids off their milkshakes.

 

“Here.”  Eddy dips a fry into his own milkshake to demonstrate, and Henry cringes when Eddy pops the fry between his full lips.

 

“Oh, dude, no.  That’s disgusting.”  Henry laughs, making the bright red patches on his face flare up, “Only weird people do that.”

 

“Have you ever even tried it before?”  Eddy drags a fry through Henry’s milkshake this time and holds it up, offering it to him, “It’s good!  Trust me, I know way too much about McDonald’s, and this is like, as good as it gets…”

 

Henry shakes his head even as he cranes his neck to bite the fry from between Eddy’s fingers, and he keeps shaking his head up until he chews and swallows and then his eyes light up and he licks at his swollen lips.

 

“What the shit!” He exclaims, slapping Eddy across one of his thighs, “That _is_ good!”

 

Eddy laughs, and they’re sitting so close that their legs are touching, so he goes for the minimal effort retaliation and knocks his knee gently against Henry’s.  “See, I told you…”

 

“And it feels _super_ good on my tongue…” Henry plunges a few fries deep into his milkshake, sucks the dessert off them before chewing on the fries, “...actually, can I try this with your chocolate one?”

 

Eddy chuckles, turns his head to face Henry, nods, can’t help but smile as he looks into Henry’s happy eyes, is still smiling as Henry leans into him to get at his milkshake, and the smile is frozen on his face when Henry leans forward just a little bit more and gently presses their lips together.

 

And Eddy’s pretty sure his brain just gives up.

 

He just sits there, dumbfounded, fries in one hand and milkshake in the other, doing nothing and letting Henry’s nose rub against his own, feeling the warm push of Henry’s lips on his and the way Henry’s bangs tickle his forehead and the heat coming off his blotchy face and-

 

-and as soon as it’s all there, it’s all gone again.

 

Eddy’s still stuck, mostly because he’s trying to remember the last time he was actually kissed and he can’t really remember when it was or where it was or even who he was kissing and that’s kind of a disturbing and also depressing memory gap to have, and by the time he manages to tear himself back to the present Henry’s face is the reddest it’s been all night and he looks so awful and he keeps trying to say something but it’s just not working for him.

 

“I… I-I… I’m sorry, man, I just-”

 

“So it _is_ a date…”  Eddy interrupts slowly, trying to wrap his head around the whole thing.

 

“Well… uh, it didn’t have to be, but I guess I kind of just ruined it and I’m-”

 

Eddy’s a little angry.

 

But just a little.  And solely because this _is_ a date and that means Hadon and Youngjin were right and that’s not something he wants to admit to them.

 

Is he angry about the kiss?

 

Nah.

 

“Shut up for a second.”  Eddy nearly whispers it, leaning in and kissing Henry back.

 

It starts out nearly as soft as the first one, just a quick brush of their lips, but Eddy decides that he likes how their lips feel when they’re up against each other so he pushes a little harder and Henry pushes back until Eddy’s tilting his head and Henry’s sort of sucking at his bottom lip and Henry tastes like fried chicken and french fries and vanilla milkshake (still the lamest flavour) and given their location and circumstances that couldn’t be more fitting in Eddy’s eyes.

 

When they part for air (sooner than Eddy would’ve liked but for whatever reason he couldn’t help but hold his breath for the whole thing) they don’t go far, pulling back just enough so their noses are still skimming together and Eddy can feel Henry’s hot breath against his lips.  

 

“I… what?  What was that?”  Henry’s eyes are so big, confused but happy, the intonation of his voice leaping all over the place.

 

Honestly, Eddy doesn’t know.

 

He would’ve punched himself out if he thought about kissing the weird-accented dude with the long bangs and the stupid piercings and the terrible clothing that asks the most annoying questions in the most annoying possible ways at any time before this exact moment.

 

But at this exact moment, all he knows is that for the first time in a very long time he doesn’t feel worthless, and he doesn’t feel like maybe there isn’t any point to anything he’s ever done, and most of all, he doesn’t feel lonely.

 

“That was… just now, it was… honestly?  The best thing that’s ever happened to me in all my time at this shitty McDonald’s.”  Eddy admits, shrugging, pressing their foreheads together (both sweaty, great).

 

“Well… it was the best thing that’s happened to me in Korea, by far.  Or in China.  Or even in Australia, really…”  Henry cracks a tiny, uncertain grin, Eddy returns it, “So, uh… does this mean I can see you again?  Like, tomorrow maybe?”

 

Eddy pretends to think for a second, pulls away, takes another fry and dips it in his milkshake.  “You can… but you’ll have to buy a burger or something, because I’ll be working.”

 

And Eddy smiles, the biggest, realest smile he can remember smiling since he started working at this terrible place, and Henry smiles back, just as big, just as real, before actually sticking some fries in Eddy’s milkshake this time.

 

They sit there and finish their milkshakes in silence, nice, content silence, and when they’re done Eddy’s not sure if he leans into Henry or if Henry pulls him close but however it happens he ends up with his head resting on Henry’s shoulder.  

 

And it feels nice, and he feels happy, and he never ever would’ve thought it would be possible to feel this happy while still technically at his workplace.

 

He even feels happy when Henry tilts his head so his face rests in Eddy’s hair.

 

“Your hair looks really nice like that, by the way…”  Henry murmurs, breath ghosting against Eddy’s scalp.

 

“Huh.”  Maybe he’ll have to thank Hadon and Youngjin tomorrow.  Maybe.

 

“...but it also smells like fries, man.”

 

“Oh, fuck off.”  

 

Eddy laughs, Henry laughs, they are still at McDonald’s, this is a date, and they are not lonely.

 


	5. yeah I like you or whatever but if you tell people we met at McDonald’s I will totally punch you in the throat

“So…?”

 

“...so?”

 

“So… last night?  You gonna tell me what happened?”  Hadon leans on his elbows at the prep counter, giving Eddy a tiny smirk as Eddy struggles to do up the buttons on his uniform shirt with fingers already damp with perspiration due to the ambient heat of the kitchen.

 

“Nothing happened.”  Eddy fusses with his bangs, tries to remember what they looked like yesterday as the early morning shift assembles for Youngjin’s usual peptalk.

 

Which, for the first time in all the time Eddy’s worked here, is late.  For some unknown reason, Youngjin’s actually in his office.  He’s rearranged the heaps of clothing so there’s just enough room to sit at his desk, he’s messing around with his computer and some sheets of paper, and he’s in a particularly good mood.  Or at least that’s what Eddy’s assuming from all impossibly low humming and singing and sometimes even rapping that’s been coming non-stop from the office since Eddy first got here.

 

“Really?  Nothing worth mentioning?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

“Not a thing?”

 

“Not a single thing.”

 

“Are you sure?”  Hadon’s lips twist a little and he straightens up, stifles a yawn, stretches.  “Because your face is doing something funny.”

 

“What’s wrong with my face?”  Eddy peers at his reflection in the hood of the fry warmer.

 

“Oh, I dunno… it’s called… uh… it’s been so long since either of us have done it that I’ve forgotten the word…”  Hadon scratches at his chin thoughtfully, “...oh yeah, uhm, smiling?  You’re smiling?”

 

Hadon actually kind of sort of smiles too (more of a short laugh) when Eddy’s hand connects with the side of his head.  

 

“Am not.”  Eddy puts on his most serious expression, and when Hadon shakes his head and hides his grin with his hand, Eddy grins right back.  “Okay, maybe I _am_ smiling.  Just maybe though.”

 

“So things went well?”

 

“I… uh…”  Eddy shrugs, nonchalant, unaware that he touches his lips, “...yeah.  They did.”

 

“So what happened?  What’d you do?  Did he buy you meat?”

 

“No, uh, actually… I paid for the meat.”  

 

Hadon’s eyes widen ever so slightly and he turns to face Eddy, studying his face curiously.  “You’re smiling like that and you didn’t even get free meat?  C’mon, now you’ve got to tell me what happened…”

Hadon blinks big inquisitive eyes at him and Eddy laughs and shoves at Hadon’s shoulder.  

 

“It’s a long story… but I’ll tell you on break later if you really want to know.”  Hadon nods, satisfied, and Eddy takes a closer look at his longtime friend.  “What about you?”

 

“What about me?”

 

“You seem kind of different today… since when do you ask so many questions?  ”  Eddy says, and it’s true.  The fry-boy still has his signature sleepy appearance, but he doesn’t look anywhere near as rough as he should after a night spent drinking with the manager.  “And how were things with Youngjin?  You don’t look hungover, like, at all…”

 

Hadon’s lips twist just a little bit more as he links his hands behind his head and reclines.  “That’s because, for once, I did not get blackout drunk last night.  I drank a ‘responsible amount’, like a good boy.”

 

“Gross.”  Eddy pulls a face, can’t begin to imagine spending a whole night with Youngjin without being wasted enough to forget that he’s drinking with fellow McDonald’s employees.  “Why would you do that?”

 

Hadon puts a finger to his lips, something that looks very akin to a smile visible behind his hand.  “It’s a surprise.  You’ll find out later.”

 

“A surprise?  You have surprises in your boring life?”

 

“Oh, shut up.”  Hadon flicks at Eddy’s visor, “You missed out on a surprise last night, by the way… Youngjin brought so much meat… like, _so_ much…”

 

Eddy touches his lips again, can almost swear he tastes vanilla milkshake, and he doesn’t feel like he missed out on anything.

 

“...it’s weird…” Hadon continues, “He’s been in a super good mood, like, more than usual, since we got off work last night… fuck knows why, said something about good news, or something... wouldn’t say any more about it than that though.”

 

“Huh.  Maybe he figured out that he likes doing paperwork and wants to start acting like a real manager?”  Hadon shrugs at Eddy’s speculation, murmuring something under his breath about not knowing that Youngjin was actually literate, “Or maybe we’re just lucky today?  It’s kinda sweet not being shouted at first thing in the morning-”

 

And Eddy jinxes himself.  The second the words are out of his mouth Youngjin bursts out of his office (after he stumbles over a few pairs of shoes cluttering up the office’s floor) in a flurry of wild hair, crinkly happy eyes, a smile wider than the human mouth should be able to make, and a long string of morning greetings directed at all of his favourite staff.

 

“Good morning Hyojun!  Good morning Mihyun!  Good morning Jiho!  Good morning Seunghee!  It’s an especially good morning for you, Hadon!”  Youngjin gives Hadon this big wink and digs a bony elbow into Hadon’s ribs but for once Hadon doesn’t look like he wants to press Youngjin’s face into the burger grill, “And good morning, Eddy!  How was your date?”

 

“It wasn’t a…” The first part of Eddy’s answer comes reflexively, but he can’t finish his protest because it was, it so totally _was_ a date.  “...uh, well, actually…”

 

Hadon punches Eddy in the bicep in good-natured congratulations (in other words, hits him really hard) and Eddy can’t even begin to understand how Youngjin manages to make his permanent grin even larger as he uses one of his big hands to ruffle Eddy’s hair.

 

“See, I told you it was a date!”  Youngjin booms happily while Eddy tries to swat the manager’s huge palms away from his attempt at recreating last night’s hairstyle.  “So what happened?”

 

“Nothing happened.”  Eddy manages to put a little bit of space between him and Youngjin, runs his own hands through his hair, wonders if the reason it won’t stay all pushed back like before is because he hasn’t done an eight-hour shift yet so he’s not covered from head to toe in grease.  

 

“Of course something happened!  Tell me!”  Youngjin makes these enormous puppy-dog eyes at him, and just for a second Eddy feels a little bit sorry for him because he knows Youngjin’s gone his whole life without ever going on a date, so it’s likely he’s never had someone hold his hand or smile all goofy and mushy at him like Henry did at Eddy and it’s probably safe to say that he’s never shared a fried chicken-flavoured kiss on a fire escape on top of the McDonald’s.  

 

But then Eddy’s reminded that that’s probably because Youngjin is so damn annoying.

 

“Come on, come on, tell me!”  Youngjin pouts and tugs at the sleeve of Eddy’s uniform and Eddy wonders vaguely about who he’s supposed to complain to if it’s the manager that’s constantly harassing him, “What did you do?  Did he buy you fried chicken?  What were the milkshakes for?  Did he like the fries?”

 

“Youngjin, come on… everybody’s staring…”  Eddy can feel his cheeks heating up as the rest of the morning staff hides their pretty smiles behind their pretty hands (beyond Hadon, who is not hiding a pretty smile behind a pretty hand but is watching with a mixture of amusement and relief that Youngjin’s attentions are focused on someone else for once) as they watch Eddy struggle to fend off the unfortunate person in charge of this establishment.

 

“Ooh, did you kiss?!  Or even better, did you have s-”

 

“-wow, look at all those customers!”  Eddy gestures with his head towards the cash registers, where there’s clearly nobody waiting but it stops Youngjin from completing his painfully awkward question (they didn’t do anything like that, but Youngjin and Hadon and all the rest of Eddy’s coworkers don’t need to know either way), “I’d better go be the great McDonald’s employee that I am and serve them!”

 

Eddy knows that Youngjin doesn’t believe any of that faked enthusiasm for a second.  But Hadon saves his skin, asking Youngjin about a “favour” that just makes Youngjin look even impossibly happier while giving Eddy enough time to avoid Youngjin’s questions until real customers show up.

 

And today, even the customers don’t really bother him.

 

He doesn’t mind attempting to punch in the overly complicated latte order with like three substitutions the first customer of his day asks for, he doesn’t feel like yelling at the couple that want to change their order after already paying for it, and he represses his initial reaction to respond to the question “But is that gluten free?” with “What the fuck does ‘gluten-free’ mean?”, instead politely informing the very trendy-looking chick that probably shouldn’t be eating at McDonald’s if she cares that damn much that he has no idea what ‘gluten-free’ means so they probably don’t have it.

 

The customers don’t bother him all the way up until his lunch break, which is also sort of different than usual.

 

Youngjin’s in such a good mood that he buys chicken nuggets for all of the staff, and he spends his lunch sitting with Hadon and Eddy out back by the dumpsters.  Youngjin demonstrates that he can fit nine chicken nuggets in his mouth at once, Hadon takes out his pack of smokes but just sticks one between his lips and doesn’t actually light up, and Eddy tells them about his date while drinking a protein shake that for once doesn’t taste like shit.

 

Eddy tries to play Henry up, to make him sound cooler than he is.  He really does.  He tells them that Henry’s from Australia, that he was an actor in China for a while, that he teaches at a dance studio nearby, but Hadon doesn’t fall for any of it.

 

“So he’s a loser, just like us?”  Hadon’s lips quirk around his unlit cigarette and Eddy half-chokes on a chicken nugget.

 

“No.  He’s not.  He’s… well…” Eddy remembers the splotchy face and the red eyes while Youngjin vehemently insists that they aren’t losers, “...okay, well, yeah… maybe sort of… he’d probably fit in with us, I guess…”

 

Youngjin thinks about this for a second before his whole face lights up.  “Eddy, you should invite him to come drinking with us some night!”

 

“Uh… that’s another thing… he doesn’t drink.”

 

“He doesn’t drink?!”  Youngjin repeats, shouting his disbelief through a mouthful of chicken.

 

“At all?”  Hadon sucks on the butt of his smoke, snorting when Eddy shakes his head, “Oh my fuck, what have you gotten yourself into?”

 

Eddy doesn’t know, but it feels like it’s something good.  Even though it doesn’t include alcohol.

 

And that sappy feeling comes out of his mouth before he can think about it.  

 

“Y’know, I think he might be worth it.  Even if he doesn’t drink.”  Eddy’s cheeks heat up at how embarrassing he sounds, but Youngjin looks delighted and Hadon slaps him on the back, “Besides, he _really_ likes chicken.”

 

“Great!  Then we can all have chicken together!”  Youngjin offers, and Eddy nods, because he thinks friendless Henry might really like that.  He also thinks that spending an evening with that many idiots at once might push his blood pressure to stroke levels, but he’s willing to take that risk.

 

The afternoon is kind of different too.

 

Well, kind of might be an understatement.

 

Lunch break ends, Eddy’s back on the tills, the customers have stupid questions and make stupid orders, nothing too unusual there.

 

But Eddy still isn’t frustrated, although maybe he checks the time on his phone just as often as before.  Not because he’s hoping a familiar and annoying face will be done work sometime soon and will show up here to make a dumb order and smile that dumb smile at him or anything.

 

And not thinking about that dumb order and that dumb smile is totally not responsible for the smile that isn’t hovering on his lips when some other familiar faces show up.  He hadn’t really expected to see these guys here ever again after whatever it was Youngjin was yelling at them about last night, but here they are with their distinctly opposite faces, the tattooed one with his tattoos covered up for the first time Eddy’s seen and the jumpy one looking even more jumpy than usual.

 

“Hey,” Eddy smiles at them, a more natural smile than the one he normally gives customers, “What can I get for you guys?”

 

The round-faced one with the hidden tattoos steps forwards, smile wide if not a little nervous, “Uh, hi!  Is the manager here?”

 

A huge booming laugh echoes from the kitchen, and Eddy sighs and nods.  “Yeah man, we can never get him to frickin’ leave… do you need to talk to him?”

 

The pointy-faced one tries, voice stuttery and soft.  “Uh, yeah, we…”

 

“Well, we work here now.”  The round-faced one finishes for him, and Eddy stares blankly at them for a few seconds before giving them a polite smile.

 

“Hold on a second,”  He says, before turning and shouting into the kitchen, “Youngjin, what did you do?!  Since when are we hiring people?”

 

“ _Manager_ Youngjin!  And since last night!”  Youngjin shouts back before bursting out of the kitchen with so much enthusiasm that he nearly trips over his enormous feet, grinning ear to ear when he spots the newest additions to his team, “Wow, you’re here early!  Nobody ever shows up early for their shifts here!”

“Youngjin, did you bully these guys into working here?!”

 

Eddy’s question is ignored as the manager puts a large hand on his shoulder and turns him to face the pair of employees.

 

“Eddy, meet the new members of our family!”  Youngjin points to the round-faced guy, who smiles and bows low, “This is Daehwan, and that’s Chanyul!” The sharp-faced one bows in turn, stiff and shaky.  

 

Eddy bows back and Youngjin gets them into uniforms and takes them on the ‘grand tour’ of the back of the restaurant, brings them back out front and is just about to teach them how to take orders when Hadon emerges from the kitchen.

 

“Youngjin, I’m off for the night-” Hadon starts, interrupted by a cheer from Youngjin at Hadon’s appearance.

 

Hadon only vaguely resembles the fry-boy they see every day.  He’s still got dark hair and tired eyes, but his apron and visor have been switched out for a leather jacket, thin-rimmed glasses, hair parted and styled (most likely with grease), and very fashionably ripped jeans (cuffed just enough times to indicate that they belong to Youngjin).  Eddy hasn’t seen the guy look anything like this since acting school.

 

“What are you so dressed up for?”  Eddy pokes at the leather jacket, tugs at Hadon’s parted hair while Hadon smacks his hands away.

 

“I’m going to an art gallery.  With Joonyoung.”  

 

“Who the hell’s Joonyoung?”  Eddy’s given his answer as Hadon gestures with his head out into the restaurant, where someone ridiculously tall and ridiculously thin in his usual head-to-toe black clothing has just come through the door.  “He’s taking you to an art gallery?  You’re going to an art gallery?  You?”

 

“Hey, we can’t all be fuckin’ philistines like you,” Eddy doesn’t know what ‘philistine’ means but he’s sure that he’s been insulted and Hadon dodges his punch with a laugh, “...and we’re going out for barbeque after.”

 

Eddy snorts and Youngjin slaps Hadon way too hard on the back before catching the two new additions, standing quietly behind Youngjin, by the wrists and dragging them forward to introduce them.  “Hadon, meet Daehwan and Chanyul!  They work here now!”

 

“Oh, really?”  Hadon bows politely, “Well, welcome to hell.  When you inevitably feel like killing yourself, I suggest drowning in the deep-fryer over locking yourself in the freezer.  It’s both faster and tastier.”   

 

Daehwan looks vaguely alarmed but Chanyul actually cracks a shy smile as Youngjin tries to reassure them that nobody’s ever died here (as far as he knows).

 

“Ah, don’t worry.  Just don’t do what Youngjin does and you’ll be fine.”  Hadon bows again, curtly, “Anyways, I’ve got to go.  Daehwan, Chanyul, I’m sure I’ll see you every day for the rest of forever now… Eddy, Youngjin, see you losers later!”

 

And then Hadon’s around the counter and giving a short wave to the tall dark man hovering near the entrance, who’s been fiddling with his clothes and anxiously running fingers through his shiny hair while he waits.

 

“Yeah, see you!”  Eddy calls out, “Come back with all of your skin on!”

 

Hadon flips Eddy a rude gesture low down where Joonyoung can’t see, before turning to his previous stalker and smiling.  Like, really smiling.  Real and open and genuine and totally unlike him, and Joonyoung smiles back, the first smile Eddy can ever remember seeing from that scary and impatient customer.  

 

And he keeps smiling when Hadon murmurs something low at him and his pretty lips part even wider when Hadon holds the front door of the McDonald’s open for him and he absolutely beams when he tells Hadon something that makes him laugh.  Eddy’s never even heard Hadon laugh like that before.  He’s not laughing at someone, he’s not laughing at himself, he’s not laughing at how shitty his life is.  He’s just… laughing.  

 

Eddy’s not even aware that he’s smiling too as he watches them leave, watches how happily Hadon smiles up at his date (Wait, is it a date?  Oh, how Eddy’s going to bug him about that tomorrow...).  

 

“Hadon and Joonyoung, huh?  I like how that sounds!” Youngjin exclaims, and Eddy nods absentmindedly beside him, still thinking about how different Hadon looks when he’s actually happy, “But, back to work!”

 

Youngjin makes up some fake orders, gets Daehwan and Chanyul to ring them in under his supervision while Eddy takes the orders from the real customers beside them.  Things are going just fine, both Chanyul and Daehwan seem to have a considerable amount of brain power on Youngjin and subtly correct some of the orders he punches in as demonstrations without him noticing, right up until they run out of paper for receipts.

 

Mostly because Youngjin insists on refilling the machine himself, to show the new workers how it’s done, and Youngjin shouldn’t be allowed to do stuff like that.

 

“Youngjin, you’re putting it in upside down.”  Eddy shoots a glance at what his superior is doing beside him while typing in a particularly complicated order on his own till from a large group of teenaged girls.

 

“Am not.”  Youngjin shoves a roll of paper into the machine with some difficulty because his fingers are too large to really fit in the little opening.

 

“Are too.  That’s why the cover won’t fit now.”

 

Youngjin laughs, forcing the cover (which obviously doesn’t fit) closed over the roll of till paper.  “It totally does!  Look!  Chanyul, print an order and show him.”

 

Chanyul looks skeptical but he does what his new boss says anyways, even though Eddy protests.  “Don’t do that, you’ll jam the machine-”

 

And sure enough, it does, a loud crunching accompanied by a distressed beeping coming from the till as paper blocks up on the inside.

 

“For fuck’s sake Youngjin, do you know how hard that is to fix?”  Eddy groans, preparing himself to wrestle Youngjin away from the cash register before he can do any more damage while Youngjin insists he can fix it himself, but Daehwan and Chanyul beat him to it.

 

“Actually, Manager Youngjin, I have a question…” Daehwan says sweetly, asking something about the price of spicy chicken burgers as Chanyul nimbly opens up the machine, removes all the blocked paper, and inserts a new roll in the right orientation all while Youngjin’s distracted.

 

By the time Daehwan and Youngjin are done talking, Chanyul’s already printing off orders and looking completely innocent.  

 

“I’m impressed.”  Eddy lets out a low whistle, nodding at Chanyul and Daehwan in turn, “Youngjin, it looks like you did something right for once… you guys are good hires!”

 

“Of course they are!”  Youngjin flings his arms around both of the new employees at the same time, drawing them close to him and ignoring the mild protests from the two of them, “I just knew they belonged here as soon as I saw them!”  

 

Eddy’s about to say something about how he’s not sure they feel the same way, but his phone goes off in his pants pocket.  Which is unusual, nobody ever really calls him beyond his mom once a week, but he’s getting a phone call now.  There aren’t any customers waiting so he motions to Youngjin to take over for him for a second while he takes a call from a number he doesn’t recognize.

 

“Hello?  Uh, yeah, I’m Oh Edward...”  Eddy answers, “Yes… yes… what?  Really?  Tomorrow?  Yeah, of course I’ll be there!  Okay, okay… thank you!  Yes, thank you so much!”

 

“Who was that?”  Youngjin shoots him a curious look as Eddy hangs up in a wide-eyed daze.

 

“Youngjin… Youngjin, I… I got a callback!”

 

“What, really?”

 

“Yeah… yeah!  I got a callback!  I haven’t had one in ages!  For a role in an action movie!  They… they want to see me tomorrow afternoon and… oh, shit…”  Eddy smacks himself in the forehead in frustration, “Fuck, I’m scheduled to work tomorrow!  I completely forgot…”

 

Youngjin smiles.  “Take tomorrow afternoon off.”  

 

“Really?  Just like that?”

 

“Yeah, of course!”  Youngjin nods, “The most important thing to me is my employee’s happiness!  And you’re happiest when you’re acting, right?  So go act!  But no matter how many roles you get, you’ve always got a job here if you need it.”

 

“Are you sure…?  It’s kinda short notice to cancel a shift…”

 

“Yeah!  We’ve got lots of people to cover your shift!”  Youngjin ruffles the hair of hapless Chanyul and Daehwan, “And besides, you’re one of my best employees!  You deserve time off!”

 

“Youngjin…” Eddy starts, but he looks at his wild-haired, impossibly loud, stupid, annoying, McDonald’s-infatuated, and beyond all else, unbelievably kind manager, and he grins. “No, _Manager_ Youngjin… thanks.  You’re kind of a good manager sometimes, you know that?”

 

“Of course I know that!”  Youngjin winks, but the massive smile on his face has just a hint of gratitude behind it before he turns back to Daehwan and Chanyul and directs them into the kitchen, yelling about how he’s now going to show them how to make fries while the two new employees share a horrified glance at the idea of their manager being around so much boiling oil.

 

Eddy shakes his head as he watches them go, smiling to himself as he daydreams about both his new role and just how much he’s going to brag to Hadon tomorrow when the distinctly annoying voice he’s been waiting all day long to hear calls out to him from in front the counter.

 

“Eddy, Eddy!  Hey mate!”  Henry says in that ridiculous accent of his, giving Eddy a huge grin as he tugs on his earring.

 

Henry looks good today too.  His face and hands and ears are pretty much back to their normal colour, just a faint flush of pink across his cheeks, and he’s got on another big chunky knit sweater, the same pair of barely scuffed sneakers, a pair of jeans rolled up just enough to reveal a tattoo circling around his ankle that makes Eddy wonder if the guy’s got any ink anywhere else.

 

“Hey you.”  Eddy grins back, slicking fingers back through his own hair, hoping it looks close enough to last night’s, “What do you want?”

 

“I want to see you.”

 

“I meant to order.  You’ve got to order something.”  Eddy’s cheeks are starting to flush to match Henry’s just from the way Henry’s looking at him, “You can see me in about an hour.  I mean, if you want to wait...”

 

“Yeah, I’ll wait.”  Henry nods, eyes crinkling up into these pretty happy crescents, “And I want, uh… a vanilla milkshake-”

 

“-still a boring flavour-”

 

“-and fries.  And I want to ask you about tonight?”

 

“Ask away.”  Eddy smiles in self-satisfaction as he rings in the order (he was _so_ right about the fries in the milkshake).

 

“Well, I was thinking…” Henry’s voice drops low, Eddy wishes he didn’t like how it sounds like that but he does, “I was thinking that once you’re done work, you should invite me over to your place… I’d invite you to mine but all my stuff’s still in boxes… but maybe you can show me some of those k-dramas or whatever that you want to act in because I don’t understand them at all, and if you want you could maybe let me sleep on your couch, or something…”

 

“You really don’t know how to ask questions, do you man?”  Eddy laughs as he shakes his head, “And what makes you think I can afford a couch?  My furniture is pretty limited to, like, just a bed…”

 

“That’s even better.  You can let me sleep there…”  Henry leans his elbows on the counter and gives Eddy a wink, and if Eddy’s face wasn’t red before, it definitely is now, because it’s been so long since he’s done anything like that…

 

Eddy pulls a face as he wipes at his forehead (did it suddenly just get really hot in here?).  “You’re gross.”

 

“Is that a yes?”  

 

“Yeah, I guess.”  Eddy shrugs, trying hard not to grin, failing, ignoring the sweat beading at the back of his neck as the image of Henry and his piercings and tattoo(s?) with messy bedhead underneath Eddy’s even messier sheets pops into his head, “I’m warning you right now that I don’t have any food at my place besides spicy ramyeon though…”

 

“That’s okay, if you order food for us, I’ll pay.”  The smile Henry’s giving Eddy, as he leans forward on the counter too in a way that he knows shows off his biceps and broad shoulders, says that he’s probably thinking about what Eddy looks like under messy sheets too.  “But please, nothing spicy this time?”

 

“Yeah, fuck no.  Nothing spicy.”  Eddy agrees, Henry smiles, moves his arm so his thumb brushes subtly against the side of Eddy’s hand, Eddy smiles back, they stand there and smile at each other until Youngjin pops his big head out of the kitchen and yells.

 

“Eddy, you have like, ten customers lined up!  Go be in love in an hour when your shift ends!”

 

“Yes, _Manager_ Youngjin.”  Eddy rolls his eyes, passes Henry his milkshake and fries, “Here, go eat.  I promise it won’t be spicy.”

 

Henry’s confused.  “Well yeah, I’d hope not-”

 

“-but if it is, you should come bring it back to me, okay?”  It’s Eddy’s turn to give Henry a wink, and the second Henry understands the grin he gives Eddy in return is huge and stupid and pretty and is going to have Eddy counting the minutes until his shift is over and he can see that huge and stupid and pretty smile for the rest of his night.

 

It’s weird.

 

A week ago he was nothing but a fast food employee working at a McDonald’s with a possibly suicidal classmate and the most annoying manager in the entire world.  He lived in a shitty apartment, he was poor, his acting school education was absolutely useless, and he was desperately lonely.

 

Now, he’s still a fast food employee working at a McDonald’s with a classmate who apparently is capable of being happy and the most annoying manager in the entire world (but also possibly the kindest), and really, he doesn’t know what he’d do without them to fix his hair or lend him clothes or give him unwarranted but surprisingly good advice.  They’re the closest things he’s got to friends, and it sounds like he might be making some new friends soon (he can hear Youngjin talking in his usual ‘inside voice’ in the kitchen, asking Daehwan and Chanyul loudly if they like drinking and meat).

 

He’s also still got a shitty apartment (although it sounds like the shittiness of it might be in his favour for once) and he’s still poor, but his acting school education’s finally got him a role in something, and now there’s a weird annoying Australian who speaks Chinese but barely a word of Korean, acts, teaches dance, can’t eat a bite of spicy food, and he’s sitting at a booth and making silly faces as he takes selfies on his phone while he’s waiting for Eddy.

 

Maybe he’ll still spend nearly every day here for the foreseeable future.  But maybe for now that’s alright.

 

Because maybe Youngjin’s actually onto something.  Eddy’s not willing to call this the “best place in all of Seoul” by any standards, but if he can meet someone like Henry here, well, maybe it’s the best McDonald’s in all of Seoul.

 

 

 

END

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there's my first attempt at an AU... not really sure if I want to do another one, but it'd be super rad if you left me a comment to let me know what you thought!
> 
> or you can be an old stale burger bun and not comment, your choice


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